Bourn on White Wings
by Miguela
Summary: Soldiers are made to fight, but rules are made to be broken. Loyalties will be tested, strengths taken to the limit of human endurance and even beyond. Only one will prevail. Friends will be pitted against friends as evil surrounds everything. R&R Upd
1. Prologue

AN: This doesn't really follow any of the episodes (that and I can't remember most of them since it have been a while since I saw them all); this is just an idea I was toying with.

**_Bourn on White Wings_**

**Prologue**

By: Miguela

Heero sat at the back of the class, his feet kicked up on the desk in front of him while the teacher rambled on and on. He had switched schools yet again, Duo having followed him, and now the two of them were sitting at the back of an advanced math class, bored out of their minds. These questions that they were supposed to be doing were so simple to them that they didn't even bother to do the work, passing the tests with excellent scores every time.

Duo spent most of his time doodling on his note book—it wasn't used for much else—while he himself spent most of his time on his laptop, which was plugged into the back outlet without the teacher's notice. With his spare time, he hacked into Oz's main systems, finding out necessary information regarding their newest projects. Today there was nothing of interest, so he closed down the window, unplugged the unit, and packed it in its carrying case.

The bell signalling the end of class and the start of lunch sounded and the students swarmed into the hall, Heero and Duo among them.

"That class is too long," Duo complained loudly, eyeing some girls that passed. "Why did you sign up for such an easy class?"

"Because it was easy," Heero replied simply, sighing at Duo's incredulously short attention span when a member of the opposite sex walked by.

Duo snorted. "Why would you even waste your time?"

The truth was that Heero really didn't want to be in school right now, frankly he'd rather be out on the field being useful than be here watching these stuck up, selfish kids strut around like they own the place, but he had gotten a report from Dr. J saying that there was supposed to be a new Oz weapon being deployed somewhere near there and to lie low until there was a confirmed place. Until then, he was going to stay in school and wait until something presented itself.

Duo and Heero made their way through the mass of students to get to the cafeteria to buy their lunches. Thankfully, since it was a high-class school, the food wasn't too bad. They sat near the floor to ceiling windows on the Southside, letting the sun warm them.

"You know Heero," Duo said pleasantly, toying with a fry, "I could get use to living like this." Heero grunted in response, typing furiously on his laptop, food untouched. "Seriously, living the way normal kids do every day, going to school, being a pain in teachers' rears…" Duo chuckled lightly.

Heero wasn't really paying any attention to his comrade at the moment, though he did hear every word he said. He was attempting yet again to get any information on anything Oz might be planning, though he still couldn't find anything of use, besides a name that he caught in passing, Mia Hiten. He knew that he should know that name, though it didn't bring anything to mind. He shrugged philosophically and continued to search.

Duo spent the rest of lunch talking about mundane things while Heero continued to search, though every once in a while he'd pause and think about that name, Mia…

The bell signalling the end of lunch sounded and he and Duo gathered up their books and headed to their next class, which was Physics, another boring class for the both of them. All throughout the two last classes, Heero thought about that name. It was setting the alarms off in his head though he couldn't figure out why. He could picture in his mind a girl about nine years old, long golden hair that rivalled Duo's braided into two long ropes, greyish-green eyes sparkling with mirth, though he couldn't remember why she appeared so happy and carefree.

Later that night, while he was completing today's assignments in his dorm room, Dr. J hacked into his laptop to deliver a message which read: Operation Flight has commenced at the New Star Base in the South; destroy the project and the prototype at all costs.

"So what's the orders for tonight?" Duo asked casually, leaning in the doorframe. "Something fun I hope."

Heero nodded, "Destroy something at the New Star Base," he said in his deep monotone. "Apparently Oz is trying to create some sort of new weapon and we have to destroy the prototype. The plan: you go in, create a diversion while I go and destroy the project."

Duo looked out raged, "How come you get all the fun?" he demanded.

"Because I know what has to be done," Heero retorted softly, typing away on his laptop.

Duo made small sounds of protest, but they fell on deaf ears, so he nodded grimly. "Then we'd better get goin' before we get caught sneakin' out," a mischievous grin quirked the corners of his lips, "and we don't want Shinigami to be late in his appointment to send some Oz soldiers to see their makers, now do we?"

The two undercover Gundam pilots snuck out of the boys' dormitory without anybody noticing, and sprinted across the open lawn with the orange street lamps illuminating them for a split second before they fell under the cover of the leafy boughs of an oak tree. Then they ran deeper into the forest, away from the sleeping school compound. They had chosen this particular school for it's location, right on the edge of the pacific ocean with forests surrounding it on three sides, a perfect place to hide their Gundams and make a quick getaway if necessary.

They found their gigantic mobile suits where they had left them, under a camouflage net far back in the woods. They had found a nice glade that was the perfect size for they two mechanical monstrosities, and had thrown a camouflage net over them to hide them from prying Oz eyes.

Unclipping the ropes that kept the net covering the massive machines, Heero checked his Gundam for any technical malfunctions, but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary on any of the important systems, so he proceeded to climb up into the cockpit of the giant metallic beast, flicking switches as he climbed in. He was so used to piloting the massive mobile suit at night that he knew where every important switch was on the control panel, so he never bothered with the lighting anymore.

Soon the hum of electrical harmony sounded and power flowed through the entire suit, signalling that it was time to go. He pulled the safety harness over his shoulders and buckled it over his stomach, feeling the irritating thing chaff his neck as it did every time he decided to wear the muscle shirt. Shrugging off the mild discomfort, he flicked on the communications to the Deathscythe, testing video and audio transponders for operating quality, as he usually did before a mission of this magnitude. Duo's face popped up on his screen, usual smirk in place.

"Ready to go man?" he chirped happily, looking down at his own console to calibrate something or other.

Heero replied with his usual 'hn', activating the ZERO system within his mobile suit, to prepare him for the mission and put him in the 'Perfect Soldier' state of mind that would be necessary for such a mission.

"Could you liven up a bit man?" Duo whined in exasperation. "We're going in to destroy an Oz project, and you look like you're about to go and squash a bug or something."

Again, Heero replied in the form of a 'hn', and closed the visual connection, though kept the audio connected, as he always did. Duo grumbled from his end about antisocial jerks and talking to himself.

Heero smiled softly to himself, easing the thruster bar forward slowly as the Wing Zero straightened, preparing for it's transformation into Neo Bird mode to fly the Deathscythe Hell to the New Star Base and back before morning. He stepped on the foot pedal and shoved the thruster bar forward as far as it would go, causing the Gundam to assume the form of a giant bird of prey made of metal.

"Let's do this!" came Duo's enthusiastic cry over the audio connection.

Heero positioned Wing Zero over Deathscythe Hell, attaching cables around the shoulder platting of the Shinigami, and, again, eased the thruster bar to full and angling the sleek bird-like Gundam up into the air, rocketing off towards the New Star Base and an old friend.

During the hour-long flight up the coast to the New Star Base, Duo talked constantly, commenting on a kid back at the school, or on the map that was up on his screen portraying their flight path, or on how hard the beds in the dormitories were, anything to dissipate the silence between the two of them.

Finally, the New Star Base came into view on the screen; a tiny blob of cement and metal nestled in a valley near the ocean. Zero flew in low, while Deathscythe Hell activated its hyper jammers to cover their arrival with this valuable piece of technology; they had to go in unnoticed or else they would be stopped one way or another.

Heero set the two Gundams down in an open field just outside the gates of the massive base, locking the cockpit expertly, linking it with the self-destruct so if someone tried to break in and has the wrong password more than once, it would trigger the self-detonate. He and Duo then threw a camouflage net over the two Gundams to keep them hidden from the wandering eye unless someone knew where to look.

"Where to man?" Duo asked coolly over the comlink, the one Heero had clipped to his belt just to be sure he could keep in contact with his comrade at all times.

"Inside to destroy the new project," Heero replied smoothly, jumping down to the ground and landing smoothly.

Duo stuck his head out of the cockpit of Deathscythe Hell; "I know that, but 'where' exactly?"

Heero shrugged. "I don't know where; all I know is that we have to find the door marked with a white feather."

Duo scratched his head in confusion. "That's a funny way to find a room," he said, jumping down to join his companion, black ball cap pulled low over his eyes and the collar of his jacket turned up to hide his long rope of a braid. He turned the communicator on his belt on. "Testing, testing…" he spoke quietly into the small microphone clipped to the collar of his blue jeans jacket.

"Call only if there's an emergency," Heero said quietly, tucking his gun into the waistband of his pants, then headed to the surrounding fence, leaping up to grab the post with one hand easily, swinging his lean form up over fence as quickly and agilely as a cat, landing gracefully on the other side and continuing to sprint as fast as he could to the closest building to find cover.

Duo wandered up to the front gate, cap pulled down low. He decided that the best way to get their attention was by creating some ruckus, so he kicked the wire fence repeatedly until two rather pissed-looking guards ambled out of the guard shed, fingering their automatic weapons threateningly.

"What do you want kid?" one of them asked, leering at the braided youth through the fence.

"I was just wondering if I could ask you guys a few questions regarding the Gundam pilots," he said casually. "I'm making an article for a newspaper and they want to know about their whereabouts." He pulled out a pencil and paper, as if he were going to record their answers.

One guard puffed out his chest proudly. "I caught one of those little bastards before," he said proudly, while his buddy snickered in the background.

"What are you going on about?" he asked, elbowing him out of the way. "I was to one to bring down the great 01, the Perfect Soldier."

"Exactly how did you accomplish such a daunting feat?" Duo asked in mock amazement. "I heard that the pilot of Gundam 01 was invincible."

The two exchanged looks, thinking that they would have the kid sucked into their lies soon enough while that same Gundam pilot raced through the halls, looking for the room marked with a white feather, though finding nothing of the sort. He raced on, pausing at every strategic junction to place a timed bomb, feeling adrenalin race through his system as he heard some rowdy soldiers up ahead in their break room. He snuck past them on the balls of his feet, hoping not to make a noise as he continued his search.

He almost shot right past the feather-marked door, had not a curious swish cut through the air as he charged passed. He skid to a halt, his yellow high tops marking up the floor with rubber skid marks, as he listened intently. There it was again—it sounded like a very large bird trying to take flight. Tip-toeing over to the door, he inspected the lock soundlessly as he listened for the sound of any approaching soldiers; after finding that a simple lock kept the door closed, he withdrew a thin wire from his jeans' pocket. Inserting wire into the lock, he twisted it this way and that, hearing a soft click as the lock released, the door swinging open silently, and what he saw behind it would forever haunt him.

A young girl, probably younger than him, was chained to the opposite wall by her wrists and ankles, but that wasn't what was unusual about her—large, white feathery wings were spilling from the girl's back. Now he understood why there was a white feather on her door. She stared at him menacingly, her glare rivalling his.

"What in the Hell do you want?" she demanded, folding the white feathery masses close to her back. She was incredibly grateful that Oz had at least provided her with a shirt with the appropriate sized holes in the back so she wouldn't be indecent.

Heero gaped at the girl, instantly recognizing the girl that was chained before him. "Mia?"

* * *

I know that it's been a while since the last time that I posted any new material, but here is some fresh ideas that haven't gone stale yet. There are currently 7 chapters after this one that have been completed, so you people wont get fustrated with me when I get a massive writer's block. I'm almost done putting my ideas in order, so Read and Review, and I'll post the finished chapters faster. :P 


	2. Alas, But to See You Again…

**_Bourn on White Wings_**

**Chapter 1**

_Alas, But to See You Again…_

By: Miguela

Mia stared at the strange boy that had entered into the lab where she was being kept. His piercing blue eyes were so familiar to her, the way they held no emotion most of the time, though now they held confusion and indecision, though it flickered briefly before it disappeared completely from her sight. His messy mop of flyaway brown hair was all too familiar, though the name refused to come to her weary mind.

"Yeah?" she asked, straining against her chains as far as they would go. "What do you want?"

Heero tried to focus his mind on the task at hand. Even if she was his childhood friend, she was now working for Oz, and, friend or not, that just wasn't acceptable. He removed his gun from the waistband of his pants, checking mechanically if the chamber was loaded and clicked the safety off. "Oz project," he said in his deep monotone, "say goodbye." He trained his weapon over her heart, and watched her eyes narrow threateningly.

"Who in the Hell do you think you are?" she demanded, feeling alarm rise within her as locked onto his target. "Aren't I even allowed one last thing before I just get blown to into the next life?"

His gun wavered. She was just like he remembered her, outspoken and spirited… "Ive come here to stop Oz's project from progressing," he said simply. "What's your last request—since you're going to die anyways…"

"Could you take these things off?" she asked innocently, shaking the chains. "I promise I won't run away—I've got nowhere to go anyways…" she trailed off sadly and hung her head.

He felt pity well up in him but squished it firmly with a mental stomp. "Fine," he growled, tucking his gun back into his waistband and taking the thin wire in hand again. He picked the locks easily, releasing her wrists, seeing blood trickle down her arms where the flesh had been torn rather severely by the rusted cuffs. It was the same with her ankles, the flesh having been lacerated very badly.

"Thank you," she sighed deeply, leaning back on the wall behind her as she sank down on the floor. "Not many people would've granted me my last wish, but you did." She cocked her head to the side, peering at him curiously. "You seem so very familiar for some reason, but I just can't place you."

He pulled out his gun again, letting the sight rest over her heart.

Then it clicked in her mind. "Heero? Is that you?" she asked tentatively, gazing at him in curiosity and hoping that this youth was indeed her childhood friend that she had been thinking off for the last year or so that she was held in captivity.

Yet again his gun wavered. "You remember?" he asked quietly.

"Of course I remember you," she said softly, her eyes brimming with tears. "How could I forget?"

He sighed, cursing himself silently. "How in the Hell did you end up here?" he demanded quietly.

"I was caught about a year or so ago, when Dekim Barton said that he only needed one weapon," she said bitterly. "I lived on the streets for a while, then an Oz soldier found me trying to sneak food from a supply shipment and the general of this base decided that he could use a street-rat for one of his twisted experiments."

Heero could hear the sound of approaching soldiers' feet, and he raised a hand to silence the girl from her reverie. She did so promptly, straining her own ears to listen, sitting in silence against the wall while her ankles and wrists bleed freely, as she made no attempt to stem the flow.

Heero breathed a sigh of relief as the footsteps passed right by their room and continued on down the hall. "We have to go," he said urgently. "We can continue this later."

She nodded in mute understanding, reaching up behind her to grasp one of the limply hanging chains behind her and pull herself up onto her feet. Her strength had diminished from the time spent in chains, so it took a considerable amount of energy to even pull herself up onto her knees, but that's as far as she got before her strength gave out. Heero recognized instantly that she wouldn't be able to get out of this place without his assistance. Slipping an arm around her waist and slinging an arm over his shoulders, he hoisted her to her feet and helped her regain a sense of balance, though she wobbled quite a bit on her unsteady legs.

The two of them made slow progress to the door, and by the time he had his hand on the doorknob, she was close to tears at the pain from her torn ankles and wrists. Heero felt his heart tighten at seeing her in such agony and, against the soldier part of his being, raised the arm circling her waist to the middle of her back and stooped to slip his other arm behind her knees and carry her bridal-style.

She gave a surprised squeak as he cradled her against his chest. "What are you doing?" she hissed, purely amazed that he would actually do such a thing after so many years.

"Getting you out of here," he replied smoothly. "Have a problem with that?"

She snorted and looked away as he edged the two of them out the door, checking to see if the coast was clear. Deciding that it wasn't going to get any better, he emerged with the girl in his arms. He was rather glad right then that he didn't have allergies to feathers as one of her wings brushed up against his face. He scowled, but continued to trudge along while Duo played stupid with the two guards at the gate.

_What idiots_, he thought to himself as he doodled on his pad of paper. _You guys wouldn't know a Gundam pilot if one of us came over and shouted who we were in your faces_. Duo listened somewhat as the fatter of the two went on to explain how he caught the Perfect Soldier and had succeeded in breaking him, revealing all he knew to his superiors, and soon after they caught another pilot, 02. Duo snorted to himself, doodling a small scythe on his pad when a message over his communication with Heero.

"I have the project," the Perfect Soldier grunted over the communication link. "Mission accomplished. Retreat now and prepare for take off in five minutes."

Duo straightened, tucking his pad of paper into his jacket. "Well, I think that I now have enough information." He tipped his cap to the two clueless guards. "Thank you for your time."

He turned to walk away when the fat sergeant called out, "Hey! You didn't take our names!"

He looked out of the corner of his eye. "That's all right; I'll just put that it was anonymous."

They looked ready to kill. "What?"

"Or I could take your names," he said, placing a finger to his lips in thought, "and I'll be sure to get a copy to your boss so that he can punish you guys for making up nasty, untrue stories."

A vein popped in the red-faced sergeant's neck, and then he tried to compose himself, aiming his gun at the young man's heart, nudging his to do the same. "You're under arrest you little punk; put your hands up!"

Duo snorted. "Is this how you caught the Perfect Soldier?" he taunted the two officers. "Telling him to put his hands up when he's on the other side of a chain link fence?"

Duo could hear the grinding of the sergeant's teeth from where he was. "Surrender yourself or we will not hesitate to fire," he growled, loading the chamber of the automatic weapon with a quick jerk of the grip.

Duo sighed, raising his hands slowly over his head, reaching into his hair with two fingers. "Looks like we'll have to play the hard way…" He pulled out a high density explosive, though the little packet of tissue rapped gunpowder looked harmless enough—it looked like Duo had slept on a tissue and it had clung to his infamously long rope of hair. It was a modern mission marvel that he didn't know how he could've survived without.

Tossing the light packet towards the two guards with a flick of his wrist, the youth turned and fled as the two stupid guards watched the white tissue bomb fall to the ground and explode on contact, blowing the two and the front gate to smithereens. He dove to the ground, tearing the knees out of his riding pants and covering his head with his arms as an explosion rang out overhead. Metal debris and rocks rained down around him as the ringing of the explosion faded out into the background. Sitting up to admire his handy work, Duo smirked to himself in satisfaction at the large whole where the front gate once stood. Dusting himself off, he continued to head back to the place where they stashed their Gundams in the deep woods.

Heero ran through the halls, skidding to a halt abruptly as an explosion rocked the foundation of the base and he knew that Duo had gotten his message and had done his job, clearing the front gate for them to pass through without any trouble, though they would have to hurry before a swarm of soldiers blocked their only clear exit.

"You were smart enough to bring backup, weren't you?" she asked quietly from his arms.

"I wouldn't be so stupid as to come here alone," he retorted, darting down a hall that he presumed would lead to the front gate one way or another. He ducked into a doorway as he spotted an oncoming guard, pressing his back into the wall as the frantic guard shot by. The base was now a frenzy of activity and he knew that they had to hurry or their window of opportunity would close.

Slipping out again, Heero and Mia wove through the base until Heero spotted a map outlining the entire base in vivid detail. Taking a right turn, he found the front doors and could see many guards, though not so many that he couldn't get by without some difficulty. Deciding that rushing through blindly was better than staying in here and being caught, Heero snuck towards the unsuspecting guards, who were watching the smoke curl up from the blasted gate in awe. He would wait nearby until Duo's Gundam came into view and distracted them yet again before he headed out into the open.

Duo raced back along the dirt path that they had taken to get to the base in the first place and hastily tore the netting off of his Gundam by snapping the wires before inputting the code he had memorized before leaving, gaining access to the sleek black Gundam.

"Let's go back Heero up buddy," Duo said to his Gundam and flicked on the hyper jammers yet again, stealthily approaching the base from the south, the same area where he had blown up the main gate for Heero to escape.

Mobile suits had long since been deployed to try and fend off an enemy attack when Duo arrived. He made quick work of two unsuspecting Leos before rounding on the main base. Unsure if his friend had escaped yet, Duo refrained from a full-fledged attack just yet, though he did turn the hyper jammers off, destroy a few guard towers in the immediate area and destroyed many Leos until he spotted a figure running at full speed away from the front doors. As Duo watched, soldiers opened fire on the fleeing figure and watched it stumble head-over-heels and crash to the ground. Another figure flew from its arms, and wings were about the only thing that Duo could make out. Zooming in, he saw that it was a young girl with large white wings that was crawling her way back towards a bleeding Heero, who had tumbled to a stop a few paces away from her, clutching his bleeding calf.

Heero swore silently to himself. Just when he could seize the ideal moment to make a break for the woods and the cover of the trees across the expanse of the base front, he was blind in looking for enemies and now he was going to have a very hard time making it back to his Gundam on his own. A bullet from the concealed soldiers—who had been lying in wait for him to run out into the open as he had—had lodged itself in the muscle of his right calf and he knew that it would be a while before he was walking again.

Mia picked herself up off the ground and went over to Heero, who looked positively livid. "Are you all right?" she asked in concern when he didn't get up off the ground when the soldiers began to inch their way over to them.

He shook his head ruefully. "Get the Hell out of here," he hissed. "Duo'll meet you in the woods not far from here."

That statement took her aback, "Aren't you coming?"

"Get out of here while you have to chance," he said and shoved her when she came within arm's length. "I got you out and I'll be damned if I let them take you again."

Her eyes began to tear. "But-"

"No 'buts'," he cut in. "Go now!"

She sniffed, but did as he said, turning away from him and getting to her feet shakily and began to stumble towards the blasted gate as Deathscythe covered the injured Heero.

"Hold it right there Oz," came Duo's cocky voice from within the black Gundam. He lowered his beam scythe towards the stunned soldiers and let their imaginations run rampant as to how he would kill them.

Heero managed to get himself up and began to limp back the way he had come, following in Mia's footsteps as she stumbled ahead of him. She was rather easy to follow, her heavy breathing and the frantic beating of her pearly wings lead him straight to the glade where she had fallen next to his Gundam and was sobbing uncontrollably. He used the outcropping branches to help himself over to her, though he stumbled not far from her and fell down next to her, which caused her to inhale sharply at the sound. Looking up at her, he met watery golden eyes.

"How did you-?" she asked in amazement, hiccupping slightly as she caught her breath and he pulled himself up into a sitting position, though he hissed in pain when the muscles in his calf attempted to move. He just lay panting beside her, trying to focus his blurring vision and calm his racing heart.

"Get in the Zero," he said after a while of panting. "Not much time left now…"

She looked at him in confusion. "You want me to get in that monster?" she demanded. "I think not!"

He sighed. "I don't have time to argue right now; you either get in and we get out of here or I leave you here—your pick."

She bit her bottom lip in indecision. "Fine, just don't pull any foolish stunts," she warned and hoisted herself to her feet. She offered her hand to him, though he declined and pulled himself up painfully.

He climbed up to the cockpit of Zero, grunting quietly to himself every once in a while in pain, and punched in the numbers of the code into the keypad. The hiss of hydraulics sounded and the front of the Gundam's chest cavity opened outward, creating a metal platform. Mia climbed up behind him, and he could see her look of awe out of the corner of his eye as he climbed in and sat in the pilot's seat.

"Where am I supposed to sit?" she asked, crouching on the platform in front of him.

"Beside me on the floor," Heero replied, gripping Zero's controls and starting up the massive suit. Power raced to his control panels, illuminating his face and her strange eyes. He practically threw the thruster bar forward and felt the giant bird-like Gundam race towards the trees not far away. He pulled up sharply and barely managed to miss the treetops as he and his companion raced back towards the base to pick up Shinigami and head back to the boarding school in time for the morning breakfast call.

Once Duo had latched onto the angelic Gundam, the three of them headed back down the coast to the school as a deafening explosion followed at their heels.

* * *

I decided to give you people a break and give you two chapters of my new story... Only 6 left now. Looks like because I gave you guys two chapters, I'm owed 2 reviews, right:D 


	3. Back At Last

**_Bourn on White Wings_**

** Chapter 2**

_Back At Last_

By: Miguela

Heero and Duo stashed their Gundams in the same place as before, the glade just off of the school's property boarders. Heero returned the Zero to its mobile form and landed beside the black Gundam in the deep woods, flicking off the main power source. His leg was throbbing slightly, probably because he had forced himself to walk back to the landing site from the base. Then it had only been a minor annoyance as the muscles would spas and cramp every once in a while, making it somewhat painful, though nothing more. However, after sitting so long and not moving the muscles in so long, they had cramped up solid and were adamant in their protests at the movements now as he tried to stand. He knew right then that he wouldn't be walking back on his own without some help in the form of a stick.

A gentle breathing had filled the small cockpit as Mia had fallen asleep next to his chair curled up in a small ball with her wings folded on her back; they would rise and fall rhythmically as she breathed.

He felt a small twinge of guilt as he contemplated waking her from her deep sleep in God only knew how long, but as he watched, her golden eyes opened slowly, and blinked in confusion. He mentally kicked himself for turning off the main light before she was safely on the ground.

"Where am I?" she asked softly, rubbing her eyes groggily.

"Back at the school Duo and I were hiding at," Heero replied softly. "We'll be staying here until you regain your strength and get some food into you."

She snorted. "Even the rations that Dr. J used to give us seems like a luxury compared to the stuff Oz fed me," she said, and got to her feet as the hiss of hydraulics sounded inside the confined space and the hatch fell and became the platform yet again. She crept out and crouched on the hard metal, the sun's first rays catching her golden hair and making it shimmer, despite the fact that it looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks and it was probably true—Heero shivered at the thought.

She cocked her head to the side in amusement. "Are you coming or are you going to sit in here all day?"

He snapped out of his reverie and realized that he had been staring at her and that Duo was yelling at them from the ground. "Who in the Hell's up there with you Heero?" Duo asked from the ground.

Heero pulled himself up using Zero's control board as his support, and wobbled his way onto the platform, hanging on to the edge of the door to keep from pitching off the small landing headfirst. "It's not important Duo," he called back. "She's a friend."

"It's a _she_?" his friend called back in wonder. A sly grin crossed his features that Heero was able to make out even at that height. "Pick up a whore at the base or what?"

Heero paled visibly. "Of course not!"

Mia giggled into her hands at his frustration. "My name's Mia Hiten," she called down to Duo. "I'm one of Heero's old friends."

Duo scratched his head in confusion. "I thought he had no friends," he retorted.

"I was listed as dead for a year and a half," she said simply. "I was with Oz."

This simple statement caused an almost panicked reaction from the Gundam pilot below—Duo pulled his gun out of his holster and trained it over the girl on the landing, all in under five seconds. "Why in the Hell did you bring back an Oz soldier with you man?" he demanded his friend angrily. "I thought you were one of us!"

"I am," Heero replied icily, "and she was the one I was trained with during my time with Dr. J—she was something like my training partner."

"And why was she with Oz?" Duo asked, still sceptical.

"I was taken a year and a half ago off the streets by an Oz soldier, thinking that I was a whore that could be paid," she said in disgust. "When they did a background check, they found that they found—by some fluke—that I had been trained as a skilled assassin and a Gundam pilot-" Duo shot her a strange look, "-and they decided that I could become their test subject." She spread her wings in demonstration as tears began to cascade down her face uncontrollably. "I'm a freak of nature!"

Heero felt his heart constrict at hearing the agony in her voice—her rights as a human being had been stripped away and she had been used in many possible ways.

Duo lowered his gun hesitantly. "So, you're on our side then?" he asked in uncertainty.

"Yeah, I have always been and always will be on your side," she replied, wiping her tears on the back of her hand hastily. "Why in the Hell would I side with Oz after they did this to me?"

Duo shrugged, "Donno…"

Heero hissed in pain as agony raced unexpectedly through his right calf as he attempted to try and walk on his own. The bullet must have been lodged in the bone in his calf to cause this much pain, by his assumption.

Mia looked over at Heero when he hissed, surprised to say the least—Heero, in all the time she had known him, had never let another person see his pain, let alone hiss as loudly as he had. Something must really be hurting him, she thought, frowning to herself.

"Are you all right Heero?" she asked when another loud hiss escaped his lips.

"Fine," he growled and, intent on proving that he was fine, began to climb down from the cockpit of the large mobile suit on his own, since he knew that jumping like he usually did would be very bad on his injury. Grabbing the tow cable protruding from the ceiling above his head, he dropped off the side of the platform, letting his weight be supported by the cable.

Mia watched him descend to the ground, worry etched in her golden eyes. It was normal for him to be quiet—it was abnormal to hear him hiss and groan and pain as he had. Her eyes traveled over his descending form, and finally rested her gaze on his right calf, where a large reddish stain covered the whole muscle at the back of his leg. She cursed quietly to herself and slowly climbed down the side of the Gundam after him.

Heero landed below, next to Duo, who was gaping up at the girl as she made her way down to them.

"Are you sure she's on our side?" he quarried yet again, looking at his partner sceptically.

"I'm positive," Heero replied, slowly putting weight on his injured leg, a motion Duo was sure not to miss. "I've known her since I was nine."

Duo nodded, slowly beginning to circle around his friend in the hopes of finding out what was causing him to be so sluggish and uncertain in his movements. The answer soon came as Mia dropped down to the ground. He caught her out of the corner of his eye and watched her drop gracefully to the ground, landing on all fours, with her wings spread wide. Looking back to the back of his friend's leg, who was now giving him a very questioning look, he said, "So, who got lucky enough in their aim to nab ya?" He said it in a teasing manner, though he was internally hoping that what he had just said wasn't true, that he hadn't really been shot.

Heero seemed to fidget as Mia came over as well, glaring disapprovingly at him from under her long, greasy bangs—he knew right then that she had also spotted the growing red patch on his calf.

"It's nothing," he lied quickly, shifting out of Duo's range of sight, though that only caused the two of them to frown in disapproval at him.

"What happened Heero?" Mia asked sternly. "Tell me or I will find out, and it will be very painful on your part."

A momentary shiver coursed down Heero spine at the tone in which she spoke. He remembered when they were kids, when the doctors would beat on him to bring up his endurance and torture him if he failed a mission simulation, he would always be sent back to their joint room bloodied and bruised, sometimes with broken bones. She would become very worried at the sight of his rugged appearance and would demand if he were hurt. He would always say that he was fine and would lay down on his bed with his back facing her. She would always know when he was hurt and would instantly find the spot and poke it roughly. He would screech in pain and pull away, though he had already shown that he was hurt seriously. It was part of both of their training to know how to take care of injuries, with little to no medical equipment on hand to use. The scientists weren't so cruel as to kill the two kids by leaving serious injuries unattended, though they wanted them to use their training to its fullest and would only treat the injuries after Mia or he had assessed them. Nine times out of ten her prognosis had been correct and he was treated with the next hour, but she had never missed an injury, knowing when he was hurt. Looks like she hadn't changed over the passed two years.

"Its just a graze," he said, snapping out of his reverie after staring off into another dimension in time for God only knew how long. Duo looked doubtful and Mia's glare deepened.

"You can't lie to me Heero Yuy," she said, "the whole back part of your calf is soaked in blood."

He cursed himself quietly for not taking care of his wounds before coming after her, though he supposed that she would've found out anyway—she always does.

"Fine," he growled. "The bullet's lodged in the muscle."

That answer seemed to satisfy her for the time being. "Sit down," she ordered after a few minutes of contemplating their next move.

"What, here?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes, right here," she said, pointing to the grassy glade in which they stood. "You shouldn't have been walking around on that leg in the first place."

He sighed and decided that this was one fight that he just wasn't going to win at this point, so he sat down on his rump in the middle of the glade. Feeling the tense muscles continually pulse to the beat of his heart as he tuned back into the conversation between Duo and Mia that he hadn't been aware of.

"Get me a bottle of water—I'm sure you have some somewhere—and a first aid kit," Mia said, kneeling down beside Heero.

"Why do you need water?" Duo asked in confusion. "Won't the antiseptic in the first aid kit be enough to clean his wound?"

"Yeah," she replied, and then she smiled innocently, "but I'm thirsty."

Duo mentally smacked himself. Of course she would want the water to drink—God only knew when the last time that she had clean water had been. He headed off to do as she requested while she turned to the injured Gundam pilot who was attempting to massage the knots out of his calf muscles.

Heero winced involuntarily; continuing to work at the tight muscles despite the pain it caused him. He would let Mia remove the bullet—she was better at it than he was—though he would try to do something on his own, like determine the gravity of his wound just to show her that he was also capable of taking care of himself. He determined in the short span of time that he had to work with that the bullet had indeed been lodged in the bone and had probably chipped some of it away, considering the distance that he had been hit.

Duo returned a few minutes later with the first aid kit that he kept stashed in his Gundam just in case of emergency, a packet of food, and a litre of bottled water. She took the supplies with a gracious bow of her head and a courteous 'thank you'. Then she set to work on Heero's injuries, working systematically and swiftly.

"I take it that you've done this many times," Duo said, rather embarrassed that he had doubted her in his own mind, though, thankfully, he hadn't voiced the comment aloud. She had cut away the bottom part of his companion's jeans with the small pair of scissors supplied by the first aid kit without hesitation. Then she had made Heero lay on his stomach to gain easy access to the bullet to remove it, and had done so with a pair of tweezers.

"I've only removed bullets a couple of times before—Heero can attest to that—and this is the only time where it went right to the bone and splintered it," she said, placing the ball of steel in a tissue and tucking everything back inside the kit. "I was Heero's personal nurse when we were in training together." She wrapped bandaging around the wound s tight as she dared. "That'll have to do until we can get you to a hospital or something."

Heero groaned as he sat up; the muscles were loose now and he was wishing that he could be back in his dorm room sleeping since he was exhausted by the night's events. He rolled onto his back, feeling the grass cushion him somewhat.

"And what about you?" Duo asked. "Those gashes on your wrists just aren't for looks, are they?"

Mia looked away, frowning. "They're not that bad," she said. "They'll heal on their own."

Heero glared at her in disapproval. He took her wrist in hand before she could pull away, seeing her wince. "Let Duo tend to that Mia before it gets infected," he said gruffly, trying to sound anxious, but it came out sounding like a command. Mia pouted, glaring in return, but allowed Duo to use the remaining gauze in the first-aid kit to bind both wrists and both ankles. He was gentle, but she winced and whimpered every once in a while in pain.

Meanwhile Heero was still trying to stand on his own, but with little success, his leg unable to move.

"Come on Heero," Duo said after watching his friend struggle to try and stand, though he failed miserably and fell back down on his back. "Let's get you back to our room before someone notices that we're missing."

Mia rose as well, folding her wings. "And where in the Hell am I supposed to go?" she demanded. "I can't very well stay in the boys dorm—that would look suspicious!"

"Well where else can we go?" Duo demanded impatiently.

She shrugged, anger fading as she stared at her bare feet scuffing the ground. "I don't know…" She didn't really know what to do now that they were at the school. She could just say that she was a new transfer student and create some fake transcripts to get her in, though she would need some clothes other than the rags she was wearing right then. "Isn't there another place close by that we could go until I find some clothes or something else to wear?"

Heero thought while Duo and Mia talked. Mia did have a point—the things she was wearing right now would not look good to get her into such a high end prep school such as the one that Duo and he had been hiding in for that last couple of months. He racked hi brains for a place that he knew was useable in the immediate area and one of the safe houses that Quatre had gifted them with instantly came to mind. It was a farmhouse in the country about thirty kilometres south of their current location. It would take about twenty minutes by car and ten by Gundam, but, by the light in the sky at that moment, their best option right now was probably the car and there was an unlimited supply of cars on campus at that instant.

"Duo," he called from the ground, "we do have another place we can go for now."

Duo looked back at his friend sprawled on the ground, "There is?"

"There's one of Quatre's safe houses not far from here," he said, pushing himself up into a sitting position. "Find us a car and we can go there; I know where the key is."

Duo scratched his head. "And what about the Gundams?"

"They're good here," Heero replied. "No one's going to steal them, I'm quite sure."

Duo shrugged, "You're the boss…"

* * *

I'm updating this story every sunday from now on. The whole thing should be writen within the next week or so. I need reviews though 


	4. At the Safe House

**_Bourn on White Wings_**

**Chapter 3**

_At the Safe House_

By: Miguela

The three of them crept back to the school grounds through the trails, Heero supported by Mia and Duo at Mia's refusal to let him walk on his own. He limped along, his right leg splinted and bandaged from the knee down.

They snuck into the student parking lot, where Duo had over heard a loud-mouthed jock in class proclaim that his parents had recently bought him a new sports car for his birthday. He also knew that that student was in the room next to his and Heero's and that the keys for the blue Supra were hanging up on the peg board in the teacher's lounge on the first floor of the dorms. Heero had insisted that Duo go and fetch his laptop from his room while he forged a note for the two of them from a non-existent doctor that they were both sick and went home for a little while until they both recovered from whatever virus they had contracted. Duo slipped the forgery on the desk in a pillaged envelope and snatched the keys from the hook and slipped out before someone caught him stealing one of the richest kids' keys right from under their noses, and he was sure not to leave any evidence linking him to the scene.

He came out the lobby doors twirling the key ring on his index finger in triumph. "Piece of cake," he announced, unlocking the doors to the sports car and the three of them piled in. Duo took the job as driver while Heero rode shotgun as navigator. Mia hopped in the back with no complaint, and sat with her large wings obscuring the rear windshield unintentionally.

Duo floored the gas pedal and they shot out of the student parking lot and raced onto the highway, with Heero constantly reminding his friend that they couldn't afford to get a speeding ticket at this point and that the speed limit was eighty. After the twenty minute drive, they found the address to a country farmhouse, the same one that Heero had been informed by Quatre that the rest of the Gundam boys would be if they needed any help of any kind. The driveway was long and muddy from the previous day's rain and trees lined the sides, casting a welcome shade from the newly rising sun. They finally came to the end of the long drive to see a pickup truck parked in front of a large, olden styled country home, which was in good repair from the Maguanac Corps' devotion to their master and the belief that he shouldn't be staying in a run down, old house.

As they pulled up, Heero was almost certain that Maganac Corps' devotion to their master and the belief that he shouldn't be staying in a run down, old house.

As they pulled up, Heero was almost certain that Maguanac troops had been alerted about their arrival by now and that there would be a small army waiting for them.

Sure enough, Rashid was standing like an ominous statue on the front porch, arms crossed over his large chest to bar their way. Though when they stepped out and Duo waved cheerily at the huge Arabian, he relaxed and smiled slightly, calling to the others in the farmhouse that the other Gundam pilots had arrived.

Mia had fallen asleep in the back yet again, though this time she didn't look like she would be waking up anytime soon as she was curled up in a tight ball with her knees to her chest and her wings folded tightly to her body; her head was cradled on her arm.

Quatre soon emerged from the house, smiling widely at the two Gundam pilots that he hadn't seen in such a long time. "Hi guys," he greeted energetically, waving furiously at the pair. "What brings you guys here?"

"We need a place to stay for a while Quatre," Heero said, gesturing to the back of the car where the girl was fast asleep. "It seems that we have found a new ally at the New Star Base."

Quartre gave him a puzzled look until he caught a glimpse of the girl sleeping gently in the back. Staring in disbelief, he turned back to a chucking Duo. "What are we supposed to do with a civilian girl while we're in the middle of a war?" he asked in uncertainty. "She can't stay here with us leaving every few hours to go fight."

"She's been trained as I have," Heero cut in. "She was supposed to be the sixth Gundam pilot but the project was pulled before they could be completed and she was sent out onto the street."

Quatre stared at Heero in shock. "She was the one who was supposed to pilot the Wing Gundam while you were supposed to pilot the Wing Zero?" he asked in disbelief. It was Heero's turn to give Quatre a strange look. "When I made Wing Zero, I remember reading the reports, seeing that this prototype was to be perfected and given to the Perfect Soldier to pilot to Earth and a girl was to pilot the Wing. But the project was deemed to dangerous for even the Perfect Soldier and it was scrapped. It never said what happened to the girl."

"So Quat, are you going to invite us in or what?" Duo said, and just waltzed right passed the Maguanacs standing in front of the door and into the cosy farmhouse, intent on making himself at home.

Heero lowered his seat so that Rashid could gain easier access to the girl who was sleeping peacefully on the backseat. The older man slid an arm in between her body and the seat and eased her up into his arms. She looked extremely small in comparison to the large Arabian, who cradled her small form, wings and all, in his protective arms. She groaned and nuzzled into a nook in his arms where she fell back into a deep sleep.

Following after the bear of a man with a pronounced limp, Heero entered the lavishly furnished farmhouse under the watchful eyes of the Maguanacs who stood watch on the porch. There was a landing at the front door, allowing for the removal of footwear to avoid dirtying the expensive-looking wood flooring. Up a small flight of stairs was a large sitting room adorned tastefully with a rose-patterned rug under a cherry wood coffee table in front of a cushy sofa. There were a couple of maroon armchairs in either corner of the room to allow for the existence of personal space in between.

Down the longer flight of stairs from the landing on which he stood lead down to a subterranean network of caves from which the Maguanacs could plan escapes from almost anywhere in the immediate area. He had heard from Quatre that the farthest any of the caves stretched was ten miles north, under a small lake, to the other side to a prearranged camp that was always ready for an ambush. So far it hasn't been used in case of emergency.

Heero hobbled up the shorter flight of stairs and sank down in the closest armchair and leaned back, the footrest coming up automatically, for which he was grateful. His leg was paining him greatly, and just being able to bring it up and rest was too good to be true. Duo and Quatre sat down on the sofa, Quatre attempting to try and make a civilized conversation with Duo while Duo went on and on about all the hot girls at the school they had been laying low at.

Heero sighed and closed his eyes, sinking into the comfortable chair and letting his tense muscles relax, as the two friends talked about irrelevant things. He was just so tired, and he deserved a break after all the missions that he had done so far. He fell asleep in the armchair, content, while Mia tossed in the bed that Rashid had placed her in at Quatre's request. She dreamt of all the things that had happened to her since she and Heero had been separated. All the beatings that she had endured, all the testes, all the pain, all the loneliness… She gasped, sitting up in bed, shaking from the horrible images. She was unsure of where she was, glancing around the comfortable guest room in confusion. The last thing that she remembered was laying down on the back car seat while Duo and Heero talked quietly amongst themselves, her energy depleted for the day and then some. Her wrists and ankles had been redressed in clean bandages, though there was still a slight red stain appearing through the white.

She slowly swung herself over the side of the bed and used a nearby chair to support herself as she rose on unsteady feet, keeping a firm grip on the arm of the chair to keep from falling. Inching her way painfully to the door, she was about halfway there when she heard footsteps approaching. Unsure if it was a friend or an enemy, she prepared for the worse, picking up a nearby vase that could be used as a potential weapon. Standing with her back to the wall on the side of the door hinges, she waited for the intruder to poke his head in so that she could deliver a good wallop. A head of blond hair poked around the side of the door and she didn't hesitate to ask questions, bring the porcelain vase down on the head as hard as she could without a second thought.

Poor Quatre, who had gone to see if the young girl that Heero and Duo had brought with them was all right, saw stars suddenly, staggering to the side away from the assailant. There was a feminine gasp and a feather-light touch on his shoulder as he fought to stop the room from spinning so fast.

"I'm so sorry," Mia said, watching the blond man blink in confusion. "I thought you were an Oz soldier."

Quatre steadied himself enough to stop the room from spinning, but looked up and saw four white wings, four large yellow eyes peering at him in worry. "Don't worry about it," he replied. "I should've knocked first, my mistake."

She took his arm and helped him over to the chair, though it was more the other way around, with Quatre supporting her weak form, which clung to his arm to keep from falling.

Rashid rushed into the room after hearing the smashing of the vase, and looked around in alarm though blinked a few times to see Quatre sitting and rubbing his head while Mia sat on the edge of the bed and stared at him in worry.

"Is everything all right Master Quatre?" he asked, going to his young master's side.

Quatre waved him away. "Yes, everything's fine Rashid, don't worry yourself about it."

Mia apologized over and over to Quatre as he tried to clear his blurry vision. She brushed the bits of porcelain from his long blond locks, picking up the remains of the broken vase and threw them in the trash and offered to work to pay to replace the broken item.

"Nonsense," Quatre said, waving to the blurry white image in front of him, "It came with the house."

"Still," she said, "I would like to make it up to you some how…"

"If you want to make it up to him in money, you're wasting your breath," Duo called from the doorway. "This guy here is one of the richest kids on the earth and the colonies."

"Duo!" Quatre exclaimed in outrage. "I would've liked to have let my identity remain unknown."

"She would've figured it out soon enough Quat," he said casually, leaning on the doorframe as he usually did.

"So, who are you exactly?" she asked tilting her head to the side in question. "It's been a while since the last time I heard of any news concerning the war or of the wealthiest family of the time."

Quatre was amazed with how polite and refined she was despite the fact that she was filthy, for reasons that she couldn't control he was sure. She held deep wisdom in her golden gaze, and her poise struck him as a mature young lady who hadn't had a civilised conversation in a long while.

"The Winner family is still in charge of most of the natural resource satellites in the L4 region," Quatre explained. "So far, we've been reconstructing some of the severely damaged colonies in the immediate area, while other corporations have come to us seeking aid to gain resources to keep an ailing colonies' citizens alive in time for a repair crew to arrive."

She nodded, "And you are the young heir Quatre Raberba Winner, are you not?"

Quatre lowered his gaze, cursing Duo to have stumbled across them. "Yeah, I am…"

She beamed, smiling widely in excitement. "I've always wanted to meet you in person," she said, "And since you introduced yourself, I'm Migiana Hiten, sixth Gundam pilot." She extended her hand to him and he shook it carefully so that it didn't agitate the lacerations on her wrist.

Quatre nodded, "Heero told us a bit about you while you were asleep," he explained. "He told us how you two became acquainted and such…"

"How is he by the way?" she asked, worry floating to the surface of her golden eyes. "His wound didn't get infected, did it?"

Quatre gave her a confused look. "We didn't know that Heero was injured," he said slowly, "Was it serious?"

She nodded, becoming distressed, "He was shot in the back of his right calf, and it went straight to the bone. I think it was chipped."

Quatre grew grim with this revelation. "He's sleeping across the hall," he said, rising from the chair, "But he walked there by himself; how could the bone be chipped?"

Mia shrugged and held on to Quatre's arm as he escorted her over to Heero's room. Duo was thinking hard on what Quatre had asked. He had seen Heero get shot and stumble himself, he had seen Mia put a temporary brace and bandages on it, but how could he miss the fact that his friend was still injured, and with a chipped bone on top of that. He supposed that he must've fallen asleep before Heero had left the chair in the sitting room after he had fallen asleep on the couch. Cursing himself for being so inattentive, he followed after Mia and Quatre into an adjoining guest room not far away.

Heero lay on the bed shivering when the three entered the room. He had just thought to pass the wound off as a minor discomfort, after having walked on it after it had been examined. He didn't think that he would have to postpone his return to action because of it. His leg was sore; probably with infection due to the amount of pain it was causing him and the heat that was being emanated from his body at this point. The bone shards might also have moved out of place from the amount of activity he had forced himself through. He was sick to his stomach, even after throwing up his breakfast earlier.

Mia frowned at seeing Heero shivering so violently under the covers. She knew that she should've insisted that they take him to a hospital first, even if it would've shown that they were Gundam pilots, it would've been worth the chance if it would be keeping Heero alive. Now he might've added to the chance that the wound was infected after walking on it.

She pulled back a corner of the sheets to expose his injured leg, while Quatre called for someone to call a doctor. Pulling off the bandages, she found that the skin around the wound had turned a bluish colour, and his skin was icy to the touch, but his face was burning with pent up heat. She bit her bottom lip slightly, and asked Duo, who stood gaping in the doorway, to bring her a bowl of very cold water, a washcloth, a couple of rolls of bandage, and a pair of tweezers. She needed to examine his wound now before it was too late to help and he died.

Duo returned shortly with all the requested items in hand, nearly sloshing the water in the bowl onto the floor in his haste to get back to Heero's room in time to aid him. Placing the bowl down on the nightstand next to the bed, he wet the washcloth and handed it to Mia, who, in turn, placed it on Heero's forehead. He groaned and attempted to pull the cold mass off his head, as it was too cold to bear at the moment, but Mia swatted his hand away.

"You brought this upon yourself," she scolded, inspecting the wound. "This is the last time that I let you avoid medical treatment.

Heero groaned again, pulling away from her prodding touch on his wounded leg, but only succeeded in making himself more nauseous than before. He felt Mia begin to wash the wound clean again, trying to pull away from her proved useless when she clamped a firm hand on his leg, above the knee, preventing him from pulling away.

A doctor who lived in the local village, a personal friend of Quatre and the Winner family, soon arrived at the farmhouse to tend to the injured Heero. Quatre, who had come to check up on his friend, escorted the young doctor down to the guestroom. Mia looked solemnly up at the pair from the floor as they entered, taking the washcloth off Heero's wounded leg and returned it to the bowl on the nightstand. Duo sat in the armchair in the corner, arms crossed over his chest and slouching low in his seat. He had a scowl on his face, not pleased with the turn of events.

The young girl, he noted, had large white wings that were folded tightly to her back, and a golden glare that made him sweat slightly as he checked on the youth whose leg was bleeding freely on the sheets. The young man pulled out his instruments out of his handbag and began checking the youth. He had a raging fever caused by the shifting of the splintered bones in his leg, and the slight infection that was slowly growing inside the bullet wound. Pulling out some penicillin, he asked the young girl, "Are there any medications that he's allergic to? Anything he can't handle?"

She shook her head. "Nothing I know of, and I know that he's been treated with almost everything under the sun by now."

He gave her a disbelieving look, but shrugged it off and pulled out a syringe from his bag, injecting the sterile needle into the little bottle of liquid drug and injected it into the young man's arm. There was a soft, surprised hiss that came from him, but nothing else. That done, the doctor went about fixing the bones in his leg. Taking a pair of tweezers, the young doctor went about placing the bones back into place, after injecting some numbing drugs into the immediate area. Once that was done, he strapped the leg tightly, splinting it.

"I'll have someone come by with some crutches for him sometime tomorrow," the young doctor said once he was finished and was cleaning his hands. "He is not to be walking on that leg for a while."

Quatre nodded, "Thank you so very much for coming on such short notice doctor," he said. "I'm very grateful."

"Just make sure that kid takes it easy," he said and left.

* * *

Thank you so much, people who reviewed! And now, the part that I've been trying to bring myself not to do before Sunday, answer your burning questions!

Roxie Faye: Thank you so much for your creative criticism. Now, Heero didn't really take an easy class (advanced math isn't exactly easy) but to them it's easy because of their training as Gundam Pilots. Their choice in courses is elaborated on later on.

Next, you commented on the fact that Heero wouldn't hiss in pain if he were shot. I think that when I revise this story after it is all posted, I will change a few things that were said and done in that chapter. I'll have to see. And I'll go into more depth in his analysis of his mission. I'll try not to forget what you've said and I'll look it over once I'm done writing and posting it.

yaeko: Thank you for reviewing! There aren't that many pairings in this fic. I wasn't going to concentrate on pairings as much as I do in Somewhere I Belong, that revolves around Heero and Relena's relationship. There is only the pairing of Heero with my original character that will be elaborated on, but other than that, there aren't any major pairs and no yaoi pairs. You'll see how it all plays out.

Thank you so much people who reviewed! I still need more reviews though... It gets lonely without any feed back.


	5. The Road to Recovery

**_Bourn on White Wings_**

**Chapter 4**

_The Road to Recovery_

By: Miguela

Heero slowly awoke from a deep sleep feeling rested and better than he had the last time he had come to his senses. Sitting up slowly, the sheets fell off his chest and down to his waist. He was still in the same clothes that he had worn on the mission, his muscle shirt and an old pair of jeans that the right leg cut off to above the knee. Mia was asleep hunched over the side of his bed, her head resting on her arms that were constricting his legs from moving. He noticed that new bandages had been wrapped around his wound and a pair of crutches was leaning against the far wall.

Great, he thought to himself, I'm stuck hopping around for a while.

His movements had awakened Mia, who sat up slowly rubbing her eyes blearily and yawning. She slowly focused on him and smiled. "Glad to see you're awake," she said softly. "I was starting to get worried." She stretched, wings flexing slightly. Her hair looked freshly washed and shimmered in the morning light, and she had on a new shirt, one that had holes cut into the back for her large wings. It never ceased to amaze him at how she could've managed to put it on without tearing it to shreds in the attempt. He'd have to ask her to show him how she did it some time.

"How long have I been asleep?" he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

"About three days," she said, rising. "I've gotten a lot done while you were asleep, like get transfer papers to that school you and Duo were hiding at, as did Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei, though Wufei wasn't too pleased about having to go to school while you healed."

He scowled. "And if we do go back to that school, how are you going to hide those big, feathery things coming from your back?" he asked, reaching for the crutches leaning against the wall. "I don't think that it would be wise for you to show those things off in public."

"Quit lecturing me," she snapped impatiently. "I already got that talk from Quatre, and as I told him, I've got it covered." She demonstrated by folding her wings tightly and they seemed to melt into her back where they became part of her shirt. "Oz wasn't completely stupid when they designed these things, and made it so that the person could hide them at will to make things easier."

Heero was impressed at how thoughtful Oz had been when designing their new genetic weapon of destruction. Now he knew how she was able to put her clothes on, and it didn't seem all that difficult. "So you'll keep those things folded the entire time at school?" he asked, beginning to make his way out of the room with the help of the wooded supports, his injured leg bent at the knee to keep it from hitting the ground.

"Yeah, and Quatre said that we'll have a car to use so that we'll be able to go back and forth from the school at our own convenience," she said, trotting along behind him as he made his way down the hall to the kitchen. "I don't think that I'd be able to keep them a secret if I was with a roommate, so he suggested it to make things easier."

She rambled on and on about what courses she was taking, all the same ones as him, and how she would need his help since it had been a while since she had done any school work, though she remembered how to pilot the Gundam as though she had been taught just yesterday.

He hobbled his way over to Quatre, who sat sipping his morning tea at the dinning room table and was looking over the global news on his, Heero's, laptop at the dinning room table.

"Where did you get the passwords for that?" he demanded quietly. "Only I was supposed to be able to break those codes."

"Mia did it for me," Quatre explained, gesturing to the young woman who had ducked into the kitchen to hunt for something to eat. "She's better at cracking codes than you are."

Heero scowled. "Mia, come out here," he commanded quietly, sitting himself down across the table, staring at the doorway leading into the kitchen area. "Now."

Mia's head poked out from around the corner. "What, do you want something?" she asked pleasantly, but her pleasant mood turned into a dark one as she scowled at him. "What's your problem?"

"Why did you break into my laptop?" he demanded, glaring at her and daring her to refuse to answer him.

"Because I could," she replied smugly. "Your passwords always were hard to break, but it seems like you're no match for the master code-cracker."

He snorted. "Then how come I was always the first one that broke the codes that Dr. J gave us when we were practicing?" he asked, mocking her slightly.

"Because I didn't want you to look bad," she retorted, and ducked back behind the wall separating the dinning area from the kitchen area as he glared at her fiercely. "Face it Heero, you can't produce a code that I can't break."

Duo chuckled at his friend's disgusted look at her comments from his seat between Quatre and Heero. "Don't worry man," he said, patting Heero's shoulder, "If it makes you feel any better, she only broke the code after five tries."

Heero smirked. That was good to know, but it still pissed him off that she had broken his code. Oh well, he thought, I'll just have to put a harder one on there once Quatre's done.

Mia soon returned with a tray full with pancakes, tea, bacon, and toast for all of them, calling at the top of her voice, "Come and get it before it's all gone!"

Trowa and Wufei slowly meandered their way up from the basement and to the breakfast table with everyone else, in no great rush, while Duo was already digging into the delicious meal that the cooks had prepared for the famished Gundam pilots. Mia sat down and ate lightly, mostly sipping green tea, her favourite from what Heero remembered of her. She used to always drink it and Dr. J would always reward her with a cup or two when she performed well on her exercises. No wonder she did so well, he thought scornfully, she had incentive to do well. He used to chide her about her weakness for tea when they were younger, but he guessed that it didn't come into play anymore after she had gone without it for a year or so now.

He picked at his food solemnly, stabbing the poor pancakes mercilessly. He ate little; his stomach having shrank from not eating for a while. After everyone had eaten their fill—Duo having eaten enough for three people—the six of them sat down in the sitting room and went over everything that they knew about the new Oz project, Mia telling them exactly what she remembered about the procedure.

"They basically remodelled my genes to create large wings," she explained. "It was in their intentions to erase a person's memory so that they would become winged assassins, ones that couldn't be heard when they landed on the roof, when they went down the halls. They also wanted them to have night vision, similar to that of animals. That's why my eyes are golden coloured."

Quatre nodded in understanding. "So the only way to reverse this is to cut out the bad genes so that the wings would disappear," he speculated.

"That or just cut them off," Wufei suggested.

Mia glared at him fiercely. "I think not," she said, outraged. "It's like amputating a perfectly fine limb from someone's body; you just don't do that."

"But not everybody has wings coming out their backs," he retorted.

"No, but they are attached no matter what you think," she said. "They can't just come off when I want them to either."

Wufei crossed his arms, stumped, while Quatre and Trowa discussed their next move quietly together. Mia curled up on the couch, another cup of tea in hand, sipping it quietly. Heero sat in an armchair while Duo sat in front of the T.V. on the floor and listened to a news report from earlier that day. It was talking about how one of Oz's development projects had been stolen days early and how the specialists were currently trying to replicate the prototype with minimal success.

"If the Gundam pilots continue to interfere with our medical and scientific advancements," said the general from the New Star Base, "This war will never finish. We research is crucial to the ending of this war."

"What a load of crap," Duo said and flicked off the T.V. "They just want to rule the world and when they have control over everything, the war will end."

Mia nodded. "I think that we should go back to school so that we can soon return to the New Star Base to destroy the plans that they made that demonstrate what genes to change."

Heero along with the rest of the Gundam pilots nodded their agreement to the plan. "We have to just be sure that no one finds our Gundams before the time comes," Quatre said. "And we have to return that car that you took Duo," he added apologetically.

Duo snapped his fingers, "Nuts."

So it was settled, the next day they pilled into mini-van driven by Abdul to the school since Duo had returned the borrowed vehicle the pervious night to avoid arising suspicion. The six of them checked in after breakfast the next morning, each dressed in the school's uniform of a dark green sweater, a button up dress shirt and black pants—in Mia's case a skirt that fell below her knees and her hair was braided expertly by Duo.

Duo had insisted that they could pass as siblings and put on her forms that they were to stop the flow of questions and allow for Heero's looks of longing at her to be correct. Even though Heero would never admit it to his face, Duo knew that he liked the girl more than in a brotherly way.

Mia carried Heero's laptop case since he didn't have any free hands at the moment. She walked with the five Gundam pilots to their first class, biology, down in the basement of the class. It was slow going because of Heero and they were more than a few minutes late, which wasn't too bad considering…

Heero took his usual seat at the back of the class, placing his crutches on the back heater. He received many stares, some pitying, others loathing. Mia sat down next to him, placing his laptop on his desk. She received many stares of the males present in the room, which caused Heero's protective nature to rise within him. He glared at the whole class, especially the jerk whose car he and Duo had stolen just days earlier. He seemed transfixed; he stared at the girl from his seat surrounded by his other friends for the entire class, unable to look away.

When biology was done, the six of them made it over to the industrial section of the school for their mechanics class. Heero wasn't in the least bit surprised that Mia had signed up for the class with the rest of them. She had been very good with her hands before, always fixing things and making little devices that she'd use on a mission; that was before Oz had caught her.

She was silent for the most part; keeping to herself was she doodled like Duo on a pad of paper that Quatre had supplied them. She was constantly glaring at any boy who stared at her for any lengthy period of time, including Heero, who was caught on numerous occasions. She was tinkering with an engine of an old car when Jack Cromwell, the rich, snobby jock whose car they had borrowed to get to Quatre's, came over.

"A lady like you shouldn't be fiddling with cars and automotives," he said in her ear, tickling her skin with his breath. "You'd best leave all the dirty work to the guys."

"Then what are you doing here?" she asked in a retort, it was quiet but cunning, making the young man glare slightly at the yellow-eyed beauty before him.

"Shouldn't you be in sewing class or something?" he asked. "You don't seem to know what you're doing here."

She snorted, "Neither do you by the way you just tried to put the spark plug in backwards," she said, fixing the said item. "Now why don't you just run back and kiss the teacher's ass while I finish fixing this thing on my own?" she suggested and shoved him roughly to the side to get better access to replace the broken fan belt.

Jack was more than a little tired of her smart-ass comments to him. He liked the way that she thought that she could win a battle against him, one of quick wits and smarts. So far, even though he hated to admit it, she was winning.

"Listen bitch," he growled in her ear, "There's no one to save you from me if I lose my temper so why don't you just save it for a minute. I like you, you know, so why don't you meet up with me at the main gate at lunch and we could go somewhere, just you and I, to a restaurant or something. How about it?"

She chuckled dryly. "I don't think that my brother would approve of me going to lunch with some strange boy from class," she said, fixing the problem with the car and wiping the grease from her hands on a rag. "He's more than a little more than over-protective of me, you know." She leaned back on the front bumper after closing the hood of the car, looking calmly back into Jack's brown eyes with her golden ones. "And frankly, I already promised him that I'd join him for lunch today."

He scoffed, "Then let's go and talk to your brother about it then," he suggested. "I'm sure he wont say no when I talk to him."

She shrugged, "He's over there," she gestured to where Duo, Trowa, and Heero were trying to find the source of a noise in another car in their little shop just a ways away. "Knock yourself out."

He sighed, Duo Maxwell was one of those people that he just wanted to punch rather hard instead of talk to, but if talking to him was going to win him a date with his sister, then he would ignore all his senseless babble and get to the point.

Heero watched from the driver's seat of the car they were fixing, pressing the gas while Trowa and Duo looked at the engine while it revved, as the boy, Jack, tapped Duo on the shoulder and gestured over to Mia, who had gotten to work on another car closer to where Quatre and Wufei were working. He glared as Jack and Duo stepped away, leaving Trowa to fix the car on his own.

"Would you allow Mia to come to lunch with me today?" Jack asked, getting right to the point and asking the question that he had come to ask.

Duo scratched his head in uncertainty. "Naw man, she promised to come and eat with me and my friends today, since this is her first day here and all," he said, trying to sound apologetic. "Sorry, can't change my plans now."

Jack sighed. "Sorry to tell you, but she really wants to go with me," he said, draping an arm around Duo's shoulders.

"No I don't," came her voice from behind them. "I said no such thing." The two of them turned to see Mia cleaning her hands on her rag, her face smudged with grease in various places and her hands were virtually black with grease and oils.

"There you go man," Duo said cheerfully, removing the boy's arm from his shoulders. "She'd rather eat with good friends than go with some strange guy who only likes her for her looks. Don't you have any other little girlies that you could take with you? I seem to remember that you had a fan club a couple of days ago."

Jack was furious after his offer had been declined. This was the first time in his life that a girl had resisted his charming smile and gracious comments and didn't fall completely in love with him at first sight. That was probably why he liked her so much, because she was so different from all the other girls at this school. He vowed to himself that he would get her, some how, some way.

* * *

I'm so disappointed :'( :'( I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter. I have lost all my faithful reviewers... That's what I get for dropping a story... :'( Please review! I'm begging you! I'm almost done this story, and if I can get the changes done, _Somewhere I Belong_ will be updated too. Please continue to review! 


	6. Long Days at School

**_Bourn on White Wings_**

**Chapter 5**

_Long Days at School_

By: Miguela

Mia coasted till lunch, avoiding Jack at all costs. She sat between Heero and Duo, looking away every time Jack tried to catch her eye and give her a wink or something. Heero noticed her sullen mood, and glared at Jack every time he tried to catch her eye; he even went so far as to growl at him when he tried to come over and talk to her again in math about the lunch date.

It was a long period of staring off into space for Mia, who remembered why she hated school so much. Its not that it's difficult work, no, it was because it was easy that it was pissing her off, being unable to advance to the more difficult part of the course until she completed some key work.

She got a good chunk of the assignments done with Quatre and Wufei, who seemed the only ones willing to work. Quatre did it so that he could help Mia with any problems she had and Wufei so that he could beat Heero in math scores on their first test, even if it didn't really matter for all that much. An advanced math course was a breeze when it came in comparison to piloting a Gundam, with all the math needed to plug in coordinates to be on track and not hit anything, the minor calculations it took to repair the massive machines when they broke down… This was a snap.

After math, the six of them met at the front entrance, each carrying their jacket. They decided that they would go sit out under the autumn sun and catch some fresh air instead of sitting in doors today. There were a few picnic tables set up on the southern end of the school at which they sat and ate what had been packed and brought from the farm house that morning. A few sandwiches, a couple of cans of pop, and a large bag of chips was all they had to share between the six of them. Mia had packed herself a thermos of green tea, saying that the stuff brought from home was always better than what the school had to offer.

Jack swaggered up to the group, and sat down beside Mia, much to the annoyance of Heero who glared at the cocky youth with all his might, the grip on his crutches tightening until his knuckles turned white from the force. How dare he sit next to his Mia without permission? He stopped, amazed with himself. Had he actually called her his Mia? He shook his head and turned his attention back to the conversation at hand, storing the thought away for further contemplation at a later time.

Jack had slipped an arm around Mia's shoulders, making her shift uncomfortably and make Heero and Duo's blood boil. How dare he touch my Mia, Heero thought and didn't stop himself this time. He was to enraged to really care that he thought of her as his.

Jack swaggered up to the group, and sat down beside Mia, much to the annoyance of Heero who glared at the cocky youth with all his might, the grip on his crutches tightening until his knuckles turned white from the force. How dare he sit next to his Mia without permission? He stopped, amazed with himself. Had he actually called her his Mia? He shook his head and turned his attention back to the conversation at hand, storing the thought away for further contemplation at a later time.

Jack had slipped an arm around Mia's shoulders, making her shift uncomfortably and make Heero and Duo's blood boil. How dare he touch my Mia, Heero thought and didn't stop himself this time. He was far too furious to really care that he thought of her as his.

"Is that all you guys had to share between the six of you?" Jack asked incredulously, bordering on sounding snobbish and stuck up.

Wufei sniffed indigently. "Some of us make do with what we have and don't whine and lament until we get more," he replied angrily.

Jack snorted. "You guys really are the misfits of this school," he said, picking at the paint on the old table. "Everyone in this school is filthy rich, everyone, and if you settle for less than the best in life, you'll be walked on all over the place."

Mia finally lost her temper and shoved Jack's arm from around her shoulders. The movements were so sudden to the unsuspecting Jack that he fell backwards off the bench with a thump. Mia glared down at him while all five of her friends burst into laughter, even Heero chuckled a bit in appreciation and Wufei smiled in pride.

"Touch me again and I'll take your arm off," she snarled, got up and walked away, the guys following behind her once they had gotten control of themselves. Heero was the first one to find her sitting on one of the cinder blocks close to the student parking lot. She had her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her shins, hands clasped.

He went over to her and sat down carefully next to her, placing his crutches on the ground beside his feet, and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She flinched slightly, but relaxed slightly when she saw that it was only he.

She sniffed, wiping away tears that had leaked from her eyes. "Heero, I don't like it here," she whispered. He felt his heart pound painfully at seeing her crying, saying that she was unhappy. He tried to give her a little encouragement, but that wasn't his strong point, and just settled for snaking his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close, letting her smaller form rest against his. She was shaking something awful, probably from the cold wind that had sprung up around them.

"Why don't we go inside?" Heero suggested and nudged her. She nodded.

From afar, Jack and his little group watched the two interact. Jack got a very evil plan on his part, and decided that at the end of the day would be the best time to set it in motion.

"Just you wait Heero Yuy," he muttered to himself as he watched the two head back inside the school together, "You and that whore will regret ever crossing me."

Mia and Heero went to their fourth period class where they found the rest of the gang waiting. Wufei and Trowa were talking quietly to each other while Quatre got ahead on the assignments that he had missed, giving an occasional remark or comment to Trowa and Wufei.

Mia sat down next to Duo, who had kicked his feet up on the desk and was dosing slightly in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. Heero sat next to her, taking his laptop out of its case and plugging it into the wall behind him. He passed the portable computer to Mia once he had gotten passed the security firewalls, saying that she could surf on the Internet or she could play games, whatever she wanted to do. This was the first time in his recollection that he had let someone else touch his precious laptop with his permission.

Mia pulled the notebook towards her, careful with Heero's prized possession, and began to play solitaire, one of the only games on the mini processor. She played all during English class, enjoying the stress relieving game; she challenged herself over and over again. Heero let her download a couple of new games so that she wouldn't get bored, enjoying the look of appreciation in her eyes when he had given her permission. She played a couple of Mah-jong games by herself, and then invited Heero to play a game with her.

"Heero, you stole the match that I wanted," she whined during their fourth game playing together. "I thought that you were going to let me win."

"Never assume that your opponent will let you win," he told her coyly. "Looks like I'm going to win."

"Keep dreaming," she said, "I win!" A flashing 'Player 1 wins!" sign came up on screen, and Heero scowled in annoyance, but in truth he was trying to hide his amusement at how happy a simple game made her. She really was just as he remembered, easy to cheer up and full of energy.

He also noticed that Jack was constantly watching her, eyeing her until she would look at him, when he would promptly lower his eyes and continue his work until she looked away. Heero had the sneaking suspicion that Jack hadn't given up on trying to get Mia, and that he would have to watch his back from now on.

In last class, computer applications, the six of them sat together at a table near the back of the class. Heero stole an Internet connection from the computer he was supposed to be using for the class and began to hack into the top-secret areas in the Oz website where classified information was stored so he could find out what was going on right now in terms of the missing project. He found that they had started testing all over again using the blueprints that they had used for the original project. It was a young boy around the age of ten. He sighed; it looked like they would have to go into another base and release that young boy before any major testing was done.

Heero logged out of the site and shut his laptop off, stuffing it back into it's carrying case.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully for the Gundam Pilots and Mia. They returned to the safe house after school and assembled in the living room to talk, something that they did whenever they got the chance.

Quatre and Trowa were sitting on the couch, talking amiably about the day's classes. Mia and Duo were seated on the floor, playing a game of chess, with cries of outrage coming from Duo every once in a while as Mia made a good play and captured some of his pieces. Wufei lurked around the entrance to the kitchen, looking over the small gathering of Gundam pilots with disinterest. Heero sat in the recliner yet again, crutches on the floor nearby with his feet up on the foot rest, eyes closed as he listened to the goings on.

"Damn it," Duo exclaimed in frustration as he knocked over his king to signal that he was defeated. "There was no way to win!"

Mia chuckled. "Sure there was, and I left myself wide open to your queen's attack, but you didn't act on it. Instead, you took out my rook, over here." She pointed to a spot on the board. "If you would've attacked me here," she pointed to a spot near her king, "I wouldn't have been able to defend."

Duo scratched his head. "Well, want to have another game?" he asked. "There's nothing better to do at the moment."

They continued to play, Mia continuously winning, until dinner time.

"Heero?" Mia asked quietly after the other pilots had gone into the dinning room to eat.

"Hm?" Heero replied quietly, eyes still closed.

Mia's eyes were downcast as she stood. "I can't stay here with your friends," she said lowly.

Heero opened his eyes slightly. "Why not?"

"Because, I would just be a bother," she said. "I can't pilot a Gundam, I can't defend myself… I would just be a weakness to you."

Heero's eyes widened as he remembered her saying something like that when they were younger.

"_Heero!" Mia yelled as she chased him through the resource satellite in which Doctor J had decided to start making his prized mobile suits. "Heero, wait up!"_

_The Japanese boy ran through the base at brake neck speed, pushing off of walls when his feet no longer touched the ground due to the low gravity. He hurtled towards the main control room where Doctor J had asked them to meet him. "Hurry up, Mia!" Heero yelled back to her. "You know that Doctor J doesn't like us to be late!"_

"_I know, but wait up a minute!" the young girl yelled._

_Heero collided with a wall as he tried to stop himself from floating out into the mobile suit bay. "What?" he asked impatiently._

_Mia halted more gracefully than he did nearby, fiddling with the hem of her shirt nervously. "Heero, I want to ask you something," she said._

_Heero sighed impatiently, "What? Spit it out, already."_

_She ignored the impatience in his tone and said quietly. "Do you think that I'm a good pilot?" she asked quietly._

"_What are you talking about?" he asked her. _

"_When we're doing the simulations, do you think that I'm good?" she bit her bottom lip nervously._

"_What do you mean?" He saw how nervous she was and, as Doctor J had instructed him to do countless times, he tried to consider how she felt at the moment so he could give her his opinion._

"_Do you think that I'm useless?" she asked quietly. "Am I nothing but a hindrance to you?" _

"_Why do you think that?" he asked. He had a feeling this had something to do with Doctor J scolding her for making so many mistakes in the last simulated battle that they'd had._

"_Because Doctor J said that I was useless as a pilot," she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "He said that I would never be able to defend the colonies, let alone my own life." She started to cry._

_Heero sighed, taking her shoulders gently as he forced her to look at him. "Mia, you have strong tactical skills that I don't have," he said honestly. "You just need to work harder at your piloting."_

_She nodded, wiping away her tears. "Thanks Heero," she said._

"_Now, come on," he said. "Doctor J is waiting."_

"Heero!"

Heero was jolted out of his memories as he looked up to find a scowling Mia. "That's just like you," she fumed. "I try to ask you a serious question and you space out."

Heero frowned at her, grabbing his crutches. "I don't think that you're bother, Mia," he said seriously. "I like having you around again."

She smiled, and tears welled up in her eyes. "Thank you, Heero," she said quietly. "I promise that I won't slow you down."

"Come here," Heero instructed her. As she came closer, he took her hand gently, pulling back her sleeve to look at the cuts on her wrist. "You should have Trowa take a look at those," he said. "He's good at taking care of cuts and stuff like that."

She nodded, "Alright," she said. "I will after dinner."

* * *

I find that this chapter was harder to write, but write it I did. Please review! I have plans for the ending of the story now, all I need is to type them. Fingers, don't fail me now! Review please! 


	7. To lose you so soon

_**Bourn on White Wings**_

**Chapter 6**

_To lose you so soon_

By: Miguela

The next day at school, Heero and Mia were making their way to Biology when Jack and his entourage intercepted them. Heero had told the other pilots to go on ahead to class since he had forgotten something in his locker, and Mia had volunteered to help him with his books. She looked at Jack calmly, hugging Heero's books close to herself.

"What do you want?" Heero asked, standing as straight as he could with crutches.

"We seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot," Jack said calmly, extending his hand to Heero. "My name is Jack."

Heero just stared blankly at the proffered hand. "Sorry, but I don't shake hands," he said. "Not my thing."

Jack scowled but lowered his hand, sticking it in his pocket. "Anyway, I was wondering if you and your friends would like to sit with us at lunch time today," he said. "I think that we would become the best of friends if we just gave each other the chance."

Heero looked at Jack with a blank expression, as did Mia. "Sorry, but we've already got plans, now if you will excuse us." Heero pushed past them and went into the classroom, where homeroom had already started. As he went past them, Heero noticed a rather murderous look on Jack's face, which meant that Heero had just made his way to Jack's shit list.

"What took you?" Duo asked quietly as he spied his friends' expressions.

"Jack and his groupies stopped us in the hall," Mia replied.

Duo nodded as Heero placed his crutches on the heater at the back of the class and sat down next to Mia, who had taken a seat next to Duo. "Those guys are up to something," Heero said quietly to Duo once the teacher had started teaching. "I don't like the way that they were looking at Mia."

"Don't worry, man," Duo replied. "I'll keep an eye out for her."

"Thanks, Duo," Heero said.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully. Even in automotives class, Jack didn't come to talk to Mia or any of the Gundam pilots. Heero kept a protectively close watch on Mia at all times; he was making any excuse he could to be near her while they worked on various cars. Mia seemed to be making any excuse she could to move away from Heero, and finally resorted to hiding in the girls' bathroom when his protective nature started to stifle her. They didn't see her again until lunch time. They found her in a corner of the cafeteria, sullenly swirling a glass of juice around.

Heero scowled when they finally found her, but before he could confront her about her actions, Duo threw out an arm, catching his friend in the chest.

"Hold on, Heero," Duo said. "Let me talk to her for a minute."

It took some convincing on Duo's part to get Heero to comply with his request and confronted the golden-eyed girl alone while the others got lunch.

"Mia?" Duo asked her in concern as he sat down in an empty chair opposite her, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Mia muttered, taking a drink of her juice.

Duo frowned, "It doesn't seem like nothing," he said. "You seem really down."

"I said it's nothing," she hissed angrily. "Just leave me alone." She promptly stood up and walked away from Duo, leaving him sitting alone at the table, where he was joined by the rest of the pilots.

"That was odd," Duo muttered. "That doesn't seem like her at all."

"Where's Mia?" Heero demanded as he sat down.

Duo shrugged. "I donno… She snapped at me about leaving her alone and took off."

Heero scowled at his friend, reached across the table and gripped the front of the Deathscythe Hell's pilot's shirt, pulling him closer to himself and confronted him. "How could you let her leave?" Heero growled at his friend. "She could be anywhere!"

Trowa broke the two of them apart, calming the Zero pilot. "Calm down, Heero," the Latino youth said in his quiet voice. "If she was supposed to pilot the Wing Gundam, then I think that she'll be alright on her own."

Heero frowned, but released the front of Duo's shirt. "I just think that someone should be with her," he said gruffly. "She was held captive for a year; I just don't want anything happening to her."

"I realize that, Heero, but you need to trust her," Trowa said. "We'll meet up with her again in 4th period."

However, Mia wasn't seen again for the rest of the day. Heero was starting to really worry although, on the outside, it looked like he was irritated at her disappearance even though all the other pilots knew that it was because he was worried for her safety.

"We need to locate her," Heero said quietly to the others in last class as he set up his laptop.

"How do you plan to do that?" Quatre asked as he watched the Japanese pilot work. "We don't have any tracking devices on her, so she'll be next to impossible to find."

Heero scowled. "There's got to be someway to find her," he said, typing in password after password as he booted up the personal computer.

"Why not look in OZ's records first?" Quatre suggested. "If they found her, they would've mentioned it in their records."

Heero nodded at the Arabian youth's logic. "That makes sense; OZ would be the ones that would want her back so that they can continue their work on their new test subject." He said it with no emotion, but his heart clenched painfully at the thought. He hooked up to the school's network and began looking through OZ's reports, looking for any mention of Mia or the Bourn Project that she had been a part of. The only thing he found was a mention of a failed Bourn Project that had been eliminated. He hoped with all his heart that it hadn't been referring to Mia.

At the end of the day, Jack came up to them, carrying an air of dignity with him as he swaggered up to Heero and the other pilots.

"What do you want now?" Heero snapped as he pulled himself up into the van that the Maguanac Corp had provided for them.

"Don't act so impatient, Gundam Pilot 01," he said smugly. "I have a message for you from OZ." Heero growled in his throat; so this boy was OZ's pawn too. "They said that they have discovered the location of the first test subject in Project Bound, and that will terminate her life if you do not follow our instructions." The other pilots eyed the youth skeptically as he smiled at them knowingly. "OZ has information on all your identities and Gundams," he said. "If you don't want that girl to lose her life, then you'll do as I tell you."

"What do you want?" Heero asked. "You've got us where you want us, so what do you want?"

"Why are you in such a rush?" Jack scoffed. "She's in no danger right now; my soldiers are under orders to detain her and question her. But you could spare her the pain by coming with me right now and telling me everything that I want to know."

The other pilots shifted nervously as they all realized that they were trapped. Jack smiled maliciously, waving his hand as several OZ soldiers stepped out of surrounding vehicles, training their guns over the five pilots.

"You five had best surrender," Jack said smartly. "If you value your lives, that is."

Each of the pilots was placed in a separate vehicle, restrained, and brought to the New Star Base. Heero noted that the gate had been repaired as they went through and into the heart of the base. Each pilot had an escort of at least 5 soldiers. Heero had eight: one restraining him, two helping him walk and five others to make sure that he couldn't escape without being shot first. He limped badly as they had taken his crutches, wincing every once in a while as his leg randomly shot through with pain from the wound in his calf. He didn't give the soldiers any satisfaction in hearing him cry out in pain as they went along and down to the room from which he had rescued Mia. Now, the room was in a frenzy of activity as scientists and soldiers moved about. There were several test subjects chained about the room, and they were all at various stages of the procedure. Some had half-formed wings coming from their shoulders and were withering in pain in the cages where they were confined. Others looked as if they were dead except for the fact that they were breathing; their skin was a pasty blue color. There were three young boys that were standing calmly in the corner, their wings half-folded on their backs, lifeless yellow irises rimmed with red regarding him calmly as they awaited instructions. Someone yelled from the depths of the room, commanded them to restrain him and they did as they were commanded, taking the soldiers' places in restraining Heero. Their strength surprised Heero as they roughly brought him to his knees, causing him to hiss in pain quietly. They weren't sympathetic towards him at all.

"How do you like them?" Dekim Barton's voice rang out and Heero could feel the hair on his neck prickle and stand on end. That voice still haunted many of his nightmares. "They are the perfect weapons; soldiers that follow orders no matter what the consequences of the actions. They would gladly die if I told them to." Dekim beamed at his creations as they pressed down hard on Heero's back, making him wince as this caused him to force more weight onto his poor calf. "To think that you, Heero Yuy, were supposed to be my perfect creation, but I was wrong; you have many flaws that were exposed during this event. You still have that kindness that I thought had been beaten out of you. Looks like I'll have to send you through retraining."

Heero grit his teeth, in anger as well as from pain, as he glared at the detestable man in front of him. "What did you do with Mia?" he demanded and his question was answered with a solid punch dead center in his back. He winced.

"You mean that other flawed project that Doctor J created for me? I have remodeled her to suit my tastes." Dekim gestured with a hand over to the side where several glass cylinders sat on a work table. And behind the table stood Mia, eyes downcast and her hands chained to the table in front of her. She was bruised and cut from a nasty beating that Heero was sure that Dekim himself had given her. Her school uniform had been replaced with a simple spandex suit that allowed for flexible movement and agility, also allowing her the use of her wings, but also covered her skin to keep her warm. "She will work for me from now on," Dekim continued. "She's very skilled, more so than the other puppets I've created. She'll be the leader of my newest force that will conquer the Earth and the Colonies in the name of the Barton Family. Since the Gundams have failed me, I need to resort to a newer plan."

Heero growled deep in his throat, straining against the human puppets that held him. "You won't get away with this plan either, Dekim," he hissed. "We went against you before, we can do it again."

"What can you do?" Dekim scoffed, "You were powerless when you were in training; how is this situation any different?"

Heero glared at the man before him and remembered that time when he had tried to kill Dekim the first time when he was still training with Doctor J.

_Heero had just completed his tenth battle simulation that day and he was worn out. Mia had gotten sloppier and sloppier as the simulations went on, and now she was having a hard time raising her simulated beam saber, never mind trying to move the simulated Gundam to defend the colony she was supposed to be protecting. Heero had gone to help her many times throughout the day, before he was separated from her in the simulation so that she could defend the colony on her own. As he watched, she was blown up by a space Leo that was sent out by the Alliance. He sighed as they were both disconnected from the simulation server and were sent to the showers. _

"_Why weren't you defending that simulated colony?" Heero asked Mia after he had had a shower and they were back in their room. "You'll never be a Gundam pilot if you keep that up."_

_Mia looked like she had been crying as she pulled her knees to her chest gloomily. "I'm just so worn out from all the simulations," she muttered. "Why do we have to do so many in a row? Can't we take five minute breaks in between, at least?"_

"_We won't have that chance in really battle," Heero said to her, sitting on her bed next to her. "We may have to fight for hours on end and not get a chance to relax."_

"_But I just can't do it anymore!" Mia cried. "It's just too hard! I don't want to be a Gundam pilot anymore; it's not any fun anymore."_

_Heero sighed._

_The next day, during the third simulation, the financier of the Gundam project, Heero knew him as Master Barton, visited the facility and watched as he and Mia mock-battled each other. Near the end of the battle, when both simulated Gundams were becoming beat up, their fight was halted and Heero and Mia were taken to see Master Barton._

"_So these are the children that you told me about, Doctor J?" Master Barton asked as he looked down his nose at the two youngsters that stood before him. _

"_Yes, sir, this is Heero and Mia," Doctor J said._

_Master Barton nodded. "And how is their training coming?" _

"_They are both excelling in their fields of expertise," Doctor J said. "Heero is becoming the perfect pilot and Mia is becoming the perfect nurse."_

"_So, have you implemented the drugs I gave you yet?" Master Barton asked, and Heero's curiosity perked. _

"_N-Not yet," Doctor J said, fidgeting with his mechanical arm._

"_And why not?"_

"_Is it really necessary to give children so young as them performance enhancing drugs?" Doctor J asked. "They're doing well without them…"_

"_We want them to become the perfect weapons," Master Barton said, bending down and gripping Mia's jaw to force her to look up at him. She winced, causing Master Barton to smirk evilly. "They can't show any emotion at all, not hate, not love, nothing."_

"_Isn't there another way to achieve that other than giving them drugs?" Doctor J asked. "They're so young."_

"_You're the scientist; you tell me." Master Barton eyed Heero cautiously. "Why don't we put the boy to the test?" he suggested. "Order him to kill the girl." He held out a gun to Doctor J. "I only want to support one pilot from you, not two. And this will be a good way to test the boy."_

_Doctor J frowned, taking the gun and handing it to Heero, who, in turn, looked at it blankly. "Go on, Heero," the doctor said sadly. "Do as Master Barton has asked, and shoot Mia."_

"_Shoot Mia?" Heero asked incredulously. "Why would I do that?"_

"_Because I told you to, boy," Master Barton hissed. "Show me that you're a man and kill that pitiful girl to prove that you deserve to be given the privilege of being a Gundam pilot."_

"_But Mia's my friend," Heero protested._

_Master Barton drew out another gun and trained it over Heero's heart. "Either shoot her, or I will shoot you," Master Barton threatened._

_Heero clenched his fists tightly at his sides and quickly aimed his gun at the older man, releasing the safety and shooting the financier in the arm. "I refuse," Heero muttered._

Heero came back to the present when he was punched hard across the face, causing him to taste blood, and his ears to ring slightly.

"Take him to the cell with the other pilots," Dekim ordered. "Let's see if we can salvage some of the training that he went through, and if we can't, kill him and the other pilots. They are no longer needed in this war."

Heero was drug back to his feet, wincing as his leg protested to the movement. He fought them with what little strength remained to him. He caught a fleeting look of Mia as he was drug out the door. What he saw there is engraved in his memory for eternity; she had her bangs hanging down in her eyes but there was no mistake in what he saw: blood red eyes peered out at him lifelessly. He was too late to help her, again.

* * *

Thank you so much Marina 24 for that encouragement! If I can muster up enough ideas for a sequel, then I most definately will write one.  



	8. Back at the Lab

**_Bourn on White Wings_**

**Chapter 7**

_Back at the Lab_

By: Miguela

Heero was tossed into the earthen cell roughly, hitting into the low metal bed as he couldn't stop himself, what with his hands bound behind his back, and lay still on the floor. The human puppets didn't say anything as they did their work, and they locked the door securely behind them to ensure that they wouldn't escape.

"Hey, Heero," Duo greeted him with a false cheeriness, "nice of you to join us."

"Hn," was Heero's only reply as he rolled onto his side, trying to clear his blurry vision. The other four pilots were sitting in various spots around the room, hands cuffed together in front of them.

"Did you see Mia, Heero?" Quatre asked as he knelt down next to Heero.

"Yeah," Heero muttered, shuddering involuntarily, remembering how lifeless she looked as opposed to that morning. "She's no longer our ally."

"What the heck are you talkin' about?" Duo asked impatiently. "There's no way that she would willingly join OZ." Heero found it ironic that Duo now defended her since they had become to know each other. Duo had thought that she was a hooker when they first met, and then an OZ soldier.

"It wasn't her decision," Heero said. "OZ is controlling her."

Duo scratched his head, not comprehending. "Wha… How is that possible?"

"Drugs," Heero said, "And chemicals that influence a person's free will. She's under their control now; there's not one trace of the old Mia left in her."

Quatre sighed and Duo shook his head. "Will you be able to handle it, Yuy?" Wufei asked from his corner of the room. "Will you be able to kill that girl without any second thoughts?"

Heero didn't reply to Wufei's question, sliding his hands down his back and moving his feet so that they went through the hole in his arms and bringing his hands back in front of him. He sat up slowly, injured leg stretched out in front of him, and noticed that his jeans were now stained a deep crimson colour around his bullet wound.

"I asked you a question, Yuy," Wufei said, louder this time as if Heero hadn't heard him the first time. "Will you be able to carry out your mission and kill that girl?"

"_Order him to kill the girl." _Heero cringed; Wufei sounded so much like Dekim when he said that that it made his blood chill. "That's none of your business, Chang," he hissed in reply. "My mission doesn't concern you."

"If your mission involves all of us, then I think that it does concern me," Wufei retorted. "If you can't kill that girl because you have some useless feelings for her, I'll do it."

Heero's eyes narrowed as he glared at Wufei, "She's not your concern, Wufei," he snapped. "Whether she lives or dies, it will be my decision."

Wufei shrugged, "Alright, I'll respect your will to deal with her, but if she threatens my mission or my life, I will kill her without a second thought and not you or anyone else will stop me."

Heero didn't reply to Wufei's statement and just sat quietly on the floor with one leg stretched out in front of him, an elbow resting on his other knee with his hands cuffed in front of him. He had to deal with her if it came down to it; she meant so much to him. If he let Wufei kill her and he never told her how he felt, he would be forever tormented by her haunted look. But he had a sinking suspicion that OZ and Dekim Barton wouldn't let them get away without putting up a resistance. He also knew that the five of them wouldn't be able to get out without having to work together.

The five pilots waited in near darkness, listening to soldiers hurry by their holding cell, but they were unable to pick up any information from them that would be useful in assessing the situation.

"Well, isn't this dull," Duo muttered.

"We just need to be patient, Duo," Quatre said quietly. "We need to find out what they want with us."

"It's obvious what they want," Heero muttered darkly, "they want to me make mindless puppets out of us like they did to Mia." He sat with his knee drawn up to his chest, resting his chin on his kneecap. "We're a threat to them if we have minds of our own, so once they take that away, we'll be under their control."

Quatre sighed as he sat down next to the dejected Wing Zero pilot, who was trying to pick the locks on his own handcuffs. "Come on, Heero, they don't really want us so that they can brain wash us," he said, trying to be a voice of optimism in the dismal little group.

Heero snorted as he managed to free one of them, the other cuff dangling from his wrist. "You're right, Quatre," Heero said, and Quatre sighed in relief as he thought that he was starting to get the stubborn pilot to see that his thoughts couldn't be possible, "they don't want to brainwash us. Brainwashing can only last for so long, but if you take the pilot over completely and think for him, then he can't betray the boss, even if they wanted too."

"What in the Hell are you talking about, Yuy?" Wufei asked, leering at Heero from the corner of the room.

Heero eyed Wufei, showing slight irritation with his peer. "Wufei, have you ever heard of a drug called Hypnosysis?"

Wufei shrugged, "Everyone has heard of that," he said. "That's the miracle drug that a two-bit scientist discovered by accident that's said to put its users into a trance-like state of mind. What of it?"

"Well, they combined that with Scopolamine to make a mind-control drug," Heero said. "I don't know all the specifics on it; it was still in the developmental stages when I was in training 5 years ago, but apparently Dekim has been able to refine and perfect that chemical so that it would be able to control a person's thoughts completely. With a steady injection of the drug and a nano chip, instructions can be implanted directly into the person's brain, no matter where they are."

The other four pilots were silent after this startling revelation, each sitting silently in the dark cell. It was several hours before anyone came to get them. Duo and Heero were taken first, in accordance with their numbers. Heero quickly attached the handcuff to his wrist as their door was unlocked and opened, but he didn't snap it so that it locked. He would need his hands in the near future and didn't want to have to fight with the annoying cuffs again. They were tugged along, Heero being drug more often than not because of his leg not being able to support him anymore.

He and Duo were taken to a room labelled 'Lab A' and were locked in separate cages, or that's what Heero thought of them as the small cells were no more than 7 feet in width, height and length. The walls were nothing more than bars on three sides, Duo's cage sharing a common side with his and a brick wall. There was a small pallet made up on the floor with straw and threadbare blankets for their comfort as well as a small bucket of water in the corner that looked to Heero as if someone had urinated in it. He sighed at his predicament, as he limped around his small cage, inspecting the mould in the corners as well as each of the individual bars, looking for a weakness in them that would allow him to escape. He found two that were extremely rickety and weak, and he smiled inwardly; he would pry those two bars lose so that he could escape his confinement and search for Mia, and when he found her, he would either kill her or capture her.

The door to the room suddenly swung open, crashing into Duo's cage with a resounding bang. Duo jumped at the unexpected noise, Heero saw the Deathscythe Hell pilot turn so fast that his braid hit against the metal bars.

"Ah, welcome 01 and 02," Dekim said smoothly, striding into the room, accompanied by two of his soulless creations and tugging on the chains that were attached to Mia's handcuffs. There was blood dripping from the lacerations that the handcuffs were causing as Dekim jerked the chains suddenly, causing her to stumble slightly, and spread her wings slightly to keep from falling. Heero saw also that the two soulless bodyguards had wicked-looking spears in hand that promised pain. He made a mental note to avoid them at all costs.

Dekim locked Mia's chains to a worktable and strode over to the two pilots, peering at them with beady eyes. "We have lots of work to do on the both of you," he said. "Those scientists I hired didn't do the job the way that I would've liked, so you all will have to be retrained and brought to heel."

Duo snorted, "As if you could ever control us," he taunted. "We're too strong-willed to be controlled by the likes of you."

Dekim swung his cold gaze to the self-proclaimed Shinigami. "Since you have your doubts, 02, I will break you first," he said coolly. "But first, I must complete my current project so that she can take command of my weapons and lead them to victory in the name of the Barton Foundation." He turned on his heel and strode over to Mia, gripping her chin and forcing her to look at him. Heero growled in his throat as his treatment of her reminded him of when he was still training with Doctor J.

"Get your hands off of her," Heero growled menacingly.

Dekim released his grip on Mia, and turned to look at Heero. "What's the matter, 01?" he asked innocently. "Are you upset that you couldn't help her, just like the last time? Don't worry, you'll become like her soon enough." Dekim picked up a syringe off the worktable and inserted the needle tip into a bottle of liquid drugs. "She's just like a doll, you see," Dekim explained, slowly drifting closer to Mia. "She will be even more powerful than OZ's mobile dolls, though. She is of flesh and blood, and that will make her a valuable addition to my guard. She still has some of her thoughts in tact, so she can make decisions in battle, but her highest priority is following orders." He stuck the needle tip into Mia's arm, and Heero's heart sank when she didn't even flinch; Heero knew that Mia didn't like needles in the least from their stay together during training. She didn't mind giving Heero a needle but didn't like getting them herself. "I shall show you what she can do, 01, and then you will understand why fighting me is useless." Dekim emptied the contents of the needle into her system and withdrew the syringe.

Heero gripped the bars, angry beyond belief at Dekim for hurting Mia again and at himself for letting Mia be hurt. He couldn't have done anything to help, he tried to reason with himself that he couldn't possibly have done anything for Mia in this situation, but it didn't help him any. He suddenly exerted all his strength on the two weak bars that he gripped, locking his right knee so that it wouldn't give out on him, disregarding the pain that was spreading through his thigh, and managed to bend them and pulled them clear out of the notches that held them securely in place. Griping the freed bars, he lunged at Dekim Barton, intent on killing right then and there, but found his way blocked by Mia, who was still looking at the floor with downcast eyes. Her face was in shadows with her bangs hiding her features from view, but she stood resolutely in front of Dekim, shielding him from Heero's assault. She strained against her restrains, the metal cutting deeper and deeper into her wrists.

"Move, Mia," he growled. "I'm going to kill him."

She stood still, bare feet planted firmly. "No," she said quietly.

"Move!" he said angrily, and swung the bar, hoping to connect with her ribs and knock her out of the way, but she blocked the strike with her arms, not caring that a large bruise was starting to form on her forearm.

"No," she said again.

Gritting his teeth, Heero swung at her again, hoping to knock her unconscious with the strike to her head, but she blocked it with the back of her right hand. Heero felt the bones in her hand crack under the pressure of the strike. She didn't flinch or even give her injuries a second thought as she gripped the opposite end of the bar and pulled it from his grasp, and used it against him, hitting him hard in the temple, the rough edge of the bar tearing open the skin and causing the blood to drip down his face. Heero saw her lifeless red eyes gaze at him from under her bangs, making Heero shiver involuntarily. That was all she could do though, as she dropped the bar to clatter to the floor and dropped to her knees.

"Do you see now, 01?" Dekim asked as he came back into Heero's view, the barrel of a handgun pointed at Heero's head. "06 is much stronger than you gave her credit for. She'll take over being the leader of your little group of Gundam Pilots after you are retrained and brought under control."

Heero felt dizzy as his head pounded and blood continued to soak the side of his face. Dekim was right, unfortunately. He had somehow ordered her to attack him until he bled, and then she stopped, bowing respectfully to her master. He knew that he had to get the others out of here and away from Dekim; including the youngsters that Dekim had control over. Everyone and that included his companions.

"Will you willingly bow to me again, 01?" Dekim scoffed. "Or will I use you as an example and strike fear into those other pilots by shooting you right here and now?"

"I wont give into you again," Heero growled. He felt his right leg buckle under him as Dekim released the safety on his pistol.

"You will be an example to the other pilots," Dekim assured. "You're far too confident and strong-headed for your own good."

Heero felt a searing pain shoot through his thigh, just above the kneecap, in his right leg as it gave out and he collapsed, Dekim smirking at the fallen Gundam pilot. "You really are helpless," Dekim scoffed. "Put him back in his cell, 06," he ordered her, "next to 02. Then bring the rest of the pilots in here and put them in the other cells to be with their friends.

"Yes," she said quietly, rising to her feet as Dekim released the chains on her wrists. Heero watched her, gripping his leg, as Mia gripped his arms and pulled him to his feet. Mia was a good head smaller than Heero, but she still managed to move him with apparent ease. They must've given her performance drugs, Heero thought, just like they gave me when I was younger.

He was tossed back into the cage next to Duo, who watched silently, mouth slightly agape, as Heero landed roughly on the floor of the cage, crying out at the sudden jolt jarred his wounded leg.

Dekim smirked in satisfaction at seeing his creation in pain and left, followed by Mia, and the two other soulless puppets.

"Man, Heero, you need to stop getting shot up like this," Duo said teasingly, but his eyes showed concern for his friend.

"Hn," Heero replied to Duo's concern as he tore a strip off the bottom of his shirt and tied it around the new wound in his leg. The bullet still in the injury would have to wait until they escaped.

Duo frowned at his friend. "Heero, you can't just cover it up without seeing to see if the bullet is still in there," he protested.

"The bullet is still in the wound," Heero said, "but it will have to wait until we can get out of here. For now, I'll just have to deal with it."

Duo shook his head. "Take the damn thing out before you get lead poisoning," Duo ordered as he took a lock-pick from his hair and started to pick the lock. "I'll get us out of here; you concentrate on getting that wound straightened out."

Heero sighed and untied the strip of green material from his wound, poking at the bleeding wound to determine how severe it was. He had to steel his nerves as his fingers explored the inside of the bullet wound, finding that the bullet had lodged itself between the muscles of his thigh and the bones of his knee. He would need to get someone to retrieve the bullet when they had escaped from Dekim and were hiding in a safe house somewhere. He looked up at Duo as he heard the click of a lock as the braided pilot opened his door, admitting the youth.

"How are you makin' out?" Duo asked as he knelt down next to Heero. He inspected Heero's leg, and hissed. "Gees man!" he exclaimed, seeing how serious the wound was. "We need to get you to a hospital!"

"We need to get everyone out of here first," Heero said, wiping his forehead on the back of his arm, feeling sweat, grime and blood smear a streak on his skin. "We need to get Mia and the others out of here too."

Duo pulled Heero's arm around his shoulders, grunting slightly under Heero's dead weight. "You could help me out, you know," Duo said sarcastically, but the fact that Heero hadn't protested to Duo's help and shoved him off yet had the braided pilot worried. Blood was oozing thickly out of Heero's wounds, and Duo felt him sway even as he acted as his friend's support. "We'll worry about getting you out of here first," he said quietly. "We need to get you to a hospital."

Heero didn't reply to his companion's comments as he tried to clear his vision and find his balance. The two pilots slowly made their way down the hallways, hoping that they weren't caught.

* * *

A big thank you to all of you that reviewed! Keep on reading, it's just going to get better. 


	9. Escape

**_Bourn on White Wings_**  
**Chapter 8 **  
_Escape _  
By: Miguela

Duo hauled Heero through the hallways, feeling panic and urgency slowly start to build within him as Heero became less and less responsive. Blood continued to drip down from his forehead as well as from his leg, and that had Duo worried. He was also worried for Mia. To think that Deikim would be able to get her to attack Heero and she wouldn't even think twice about it!

Duo passed by an open door and saw medical supplies inside on shelves. "We're gonna take a slight detour," he said to Heero, who wasn't even paying attention to him. "We need to stop that bleeding." He pulled Heero into the room, closing the door and locking it behind them to avoid being surprised by someone needing to use any of the equipment within the room. He sat Heero down on one of the examination tables and managed to scrounge up gauze, medical tape, a pair of tweezers and morphine, since Duo knew how much it hurt to remove a bullet. Duo spoke the entire time that he tended to Heero's injuries, trying to get a response out of him.

"Come on, Heero," Duo said, shaking him slightly. "Give me some sign that you're still with me."

Heero grunted, shifting slightly as he felt an injection in his leg. His eyes slowly opened to meet with Duo's blurry image. "Duo, wh-what did you just do?" he asked fuzzily.

"You'll bleed to death if I don't do something first," Duo said, "It's just a bit of morphine so I can get the bullet out." He held up the little piece of lead, the one that he had just fished out of Heero's leg, as a demonstration. Duo grinned at his own cleverness.

"How much?"

"Like, close to nothing," Duo said, waving it off as he set down the bloody bullet and the tweezers down on the tray. He wrapped bandages around his friend's head wound. "Once we're done here, we'll free the others."

"Hn," Heero muttered. He felt groggy, and Duo's overly zealous chatter was making his head pound. "Duo, could you stop the senseless chatter?" he cut his friend off. "Someone could hear you."

Duo didn't seem to care as he tied the bandages snugly on his friend's brow. "There, that's taken care of," he said, hands on his hips.

"Then let's get out of here," Heero said, and, much to Duo's protests, pushed himself up off the table and began limping to the door. He was very thankful that Duo had given him morphine or he wouldn't have been able to tolerate the pain as he did now. He knew that they had taken too much time, and that Dekim and his scientists would come searching for them. They couldn't afford to be caught and imprisoned again. Using the wall as a support, Heero made his way down the hall with a profound limp until Duo came up beside him, draping one of Heero's arms across his shoulders.

"And you call me an idiot," Duo said sarcastically, watching Heero try to remain focused as he helped his friend back to where the other pilots were. "Man, you are way more stupid than I could ever be! You're pigheaded! Gees, the least you could've done was waited till I was done! You're leg wound isn't just a scrape, you know."

"We don't have time," Heero said urgently. "I don't care what shape I'm in; so long as we get Mia and the others out of here and away from Dekim, I don't care what it costs me."

"You really love her, don't you?" Duo asked quietly, seriously.

If Heero hadn't been so high on morphine, he probably would've strangled Duo right then and there. He settled for glaring deeply at the braided pilot, who only smirked evilly. "Oh, there is no way you are living this one down," he chirped happily, skipping into a nearby hallway as he heard sounds of movement up ahead. Heero groaned quietly and Duo chuckled.

"Duo?" Quatre called from the way that they had just come from. "Is that you?"

"Quatre!" Duo called excitedly, setting Heero down on the floor as he felt his friend's legs give out from under him.

"What happened?" Quatre asked in concern at seeing the bandages wrapped around Heero's head and the blood soaked into his jeans.

"Mia," was all that Heero offered as an explanation.

Wufei sneered. "A woman beat you up, Yuy?" he scoffed. "I would've thought that you were stronger than that."

Heero glared at the blurry image of Wufei. The morphine was starting to affect him to the point of him falling unconscious, but he also knew that he had gotten a nasty hit in the head from Mia with that lose bar, which was probably causing his vision to be blurred as it was.

"We should hurry," Trowa reminded them quietly, as he knelt next to Heero and pulled to injured youth's arm around his neck, bidding that Duo support Heero on his other side. "We're all getting out of here, alive," he said in response to Heero's curious look.

"Man, Wufei, you and Quatre go and find Mia," Duo called to the other two. "Heero won't leave without her."

Quatre nodded in understanding, but Wufei just crossed his arms. "I'm not going to risk my life to look for a miserable, weakling woman," he said.

"Come on, man," Duo pleaded. "I don't want to have to drag his sorry ass back to the safe house without Mia there to persuade him to go." Duo's smirk widened as Heero's glare deepened.

"We can come back for her," Trowa reasoned.

"Trowa's right," Quatre agreed. "Right now, our objective is to escape; besides, if Mia is under their control, it would be harder to drag her along against her will. We would probably be taken out just like Heero if we were to force her to do anything."

"Alright then, let's go," Duo said, and they set out. He and Trowa supported the injured Heero, while Quatre and Wufei took out any guards that got in their way. They managed to knock out a couple of guards and steal their weapons, which came in handy when they were escaping. Since Quatre wasn't as good a shot as Duo was, Quatre took Duo's place in supporting the injured Wing Zero pilot.

The five of them crouched near the exit at the back of the base, Wufei covering them from the rear as Duo picked the lock on the door. They knew that once the lock was open, the alarm would sound, signaling a breach, but they didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Heero was losing blood at an alarming rate, as was Quatre, who had taken a hit to protect the slow moving trio from a group of soldiers that had come out of a break room after hearing one of their friends cry out in pain from Wufei's attack. Quatre's shoulder was bleeding profusely from the bullet wound that was just under his collar bone. Heero tried to put as little weight on Quatre as he possibly could, used Trowa as his main support. Trowa was on his right side, and got most of the weight put on him for that very reason. Quatre was sweating and panting heavily as his right arm hung useless at his side. His other hand gripped Heero's left wrist as he had Heero's left arm draped over his shoulders.

There was an audible click from the door and the siren sounded almost instantly afterwards as Duo opened the backdoor, waving them through as he joined Wufei and backed them up. The five of them entered the garage section of the base, finding all sorts of jeeps, utility trucks and mobile suit transports all sitting idly and waiting. They chose one of the jeeps that were parked near the door that was running, shooting the young soldier as he ran out to jump into his waiting vehicle. Duo made sure that he didn't hit anything vital as they approached the young man. It turned out that the young man turned out to be Jack. Duo's grin turned into a sneer.

"Looks like you got a dose of your own medicine," he said, knocking the frightened Jack unconscious as they climbed into his vehicle. Wufei drove with Duo riding shotgun as the young acrobat and the two injured pilots climbed into the back seat. Trowa was armed, taking Wufei's gun, and Duo had the one Quatre had stole. "Let's get out of here," Duo said to the other pilots, who couldn't help but agree with him.

_I'll come back for you, Mia,_ Heero vowed silently as he rested his head on the back of the seat. _I won't leave you, not this time._

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

_I know, it's been a LONG time since I updated this story. Good news, I've got THREE chapters to post for this story so REVIEW and you'll get more :P  
_


	10. Moving On

**_Bourn on White Wings_**

**Chapter 9**

_Moving on_

By: Miguela

Heero fell unconscious before they reached the safe house where the Maguanacs were waiting. He wasn't aware of when they stopped in front of the old farmhouse and the others climbed out. He wasn't even aware of the cold cloth that Trowa used to try and draw away his fever. What he did notice, however, was when someone was checking his injured leg. He floated back to consciousness, feeling his body burn with fever and feeling the slight comfort that the cold cloth on his forehead was giving him. His right leg ached no matter if he tried to move it or not; looked like he was off his feet for a while. He squinted slightly as he opened his eyes to the dark room. Trowa smiled slightly at him as Heero rubbed his eyes free of sleep.

"Glad to see you're awake," Trowa said quietly, his green orbs shining with relief. "You had us all worried. Even Wufei kept asking how your condition was."

Heero groaned as he pushed himself up on his elbows. "Where are we?" he asked quietly as he held the cold compress to his forehead as he leaned forward.

"The old farmhouse that we're using as a safe house," Trowa said. "We'll be moving to one that's closer to Sally and farther from Deikim very soon."

Heero looked at Trowa in surprise. "How long have I been unconscious?" he asked, but it was mostly directed towards himself than at his companion who sat beside him.

"Not very long," Trowa assured him. "It's been almost a day now."

Heero nodded, pulling his left knee up to his chest under the thin sheets on his bed. He didn't dare to look at his right leg because he had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't be a very pretty sight. He couldn't feel most of it, and the parts that did have feeling were in such agony that he wished that they had just amputated the thing.

"How's Quatre?" Heero asked before he forgot completely about it. "Is he alright?"

"Quatre's fine," Trowa said. "Sally removed the bullet from his shoulder before it got infected. There shouldn't be any problems with that wound later on in his life. He just has to take it easy with that arm for another week or so and he should be fine."

Heero sighed in relief. He felt extremely guilty that Quatre had to take the shot to keep him from getting even more hurt than he already was. If he had been stronger, he could have gotten out of the way or could have taken the bullet for himself. Quatre wouldn't have had to risk his own life to protect him. Heero looked away from Trowa in shame as he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Trowa called to whoever was on the other side.

Sally entered the small, dark room where her patient was, followed by Duo and Quatre, whose right arm was in a sling.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake, Heero," Sally said, setting down her medical bag beside the youth. "I think that Trowa has told you that we'll be leaving soon to move to the new safe house." She pulled the sheets away from his right leg, and even the whisper of the air against his wounds caused him to hiss in pain. She frowned at him, eyes showing concern for his condition. "I think that you and Quatre will be staying out of the way and resting during our move," she said seriously. "You obviously can't walk with your leg wounded like that."

"I'll be fine," Heero said impatiently. "What about our Gundams?"

"They'll be moved to the new safe house once we get settled," Sally said. "The Sandrock Gundam, as well as Heavyarms, are in the care of the Maguanac Corps for now. Wing Zero and Deathscythe Hell are still in the last place where you left them."

"That means that they're still at that school that we were attending," Heero said. "We'll have to take them with us when we move."

Duo nodded in agreement as he leaned in the doorway. "Yeah, we don't need any little brats messing with our Gundams," he said, referring to Jack and his little friends. "I should be able to go and get them," Duo added as Heero was furiously thinking of a way to slip past Sally and the other pilots to retrieve his wayward Gundam. "A little help?" he asked Trowa and he nodded.

"I'll just turn off the ZERO system," he said nonchalantly and the two pilots left the room to retrieve the stashed mobile suits from the forest beside the private school.

Heero distracted himself with thoughts of Mia while Sally slowly peeled the bandages away from his bloody gunshot wounds so that she could clean and redress them. _What am I going to do?_ Heero thought miserably to himself. _I can't leave her there all by herself, it's not her fault that she's being controlled and has no free will of her own to exercise. Maybe if I find the implant chip and remove it..._ His thoughts were interrupted by the pick of a needle in his upper thigh.

"Won't be long now," Sally said to him in reassurance, "Though you really did a number on yourself this time. Stubbornness is going to be the death of you one of these days, Heero Yuy, mark my words." She continued to tut quietly to herself as Quatre chuckled quietly.

"Wufei is out standing guard with the Maguanacs," Quatre said to Heero in reassurance as Heero continued to endure the pain that Sally was causing by simply redressing the wounds. "If OZ follows us here, we've still got the escape tunnels."

"I'm not worried about that," Heero said quietly as he hardened his gaze on the ceiling so that he wouldn't show how worried he actually was about Mia being in way over her head.

"You're worried about Mia, aren't you?" Quatre said to him gently and Heero gazed over at the emphatic youth. "I can tell, Heero. Your heart is telling me that you really care for this girl."

"All done," Sally announced as she replaced the sheets and tenderly tucked them in around Heero's leg. "I don't want you moving around for a while," she added to Heero as she took his temperature. "Trowa is under orders to keep you in bed until your leg heals enough. No missions, is that clear?"

Heero replied with a 'hn' as Quatre assured Sally that he would personally keep Heero in bed until he was well. He then promised to take care of himself as well. Heero spent the rest of the day, until sundown, staring at the ceiling as he concentrated on flexing his toes slowly back and forth on his injured leg. When he wouldn't respond to Quatre, the kind, blond pilot decided to let his friend have some time alone with his thoughts on the condition that Heero promised not to leave his bed.

Trowa and Duo returned after the sun had gone down with the Deathscythe Hell and Wing Zero. The Gundams were stashed underground with the Maguanac Corps' machines to keep them safely out of sight from OZ aircraft. Trowa took over Quatre's empty seat though he didn't press Heero to speak to him; silent company was always the way that Trowa operated and it comforted Heero just to have him close and not have the pressure of having to say anything like he did with Quatre.

At the base, Mia was fighting with herself as she followed Deikim's orders, her hands forcing a crying boy into the steel cage and locking the door behind him. As far as she could tell, she could feel her body's pains and the exhaustion that was starting to set in though the drugs and the implant kept her body upright and moving through the paces with no diminished speed or strength. She was forcing boys and girls into cages so that the serum that had changed her could be injected into them and their genes could be altered just as hers had.

She waited until Deikim had his back turned before she starting testing her will to break the drug-induced hypnosis and fight back against the implant's instructions to her head. It took a tremendous amount of mental effort but she did manage to set one boy free from the chains. She encouraged him to sneak out though he was frozen in his spot, green eyes wide and frightened.

"It'll be okay," she whispered to him quietly, "We'll all get out of here." _I just hope that it won't be in a body bag,_ she thought wistfully to herself.

She could no longer fight the mind control and slammed the door of the cage shut, which caused her to catch the poor boy's fingers in the door. He screamed and started panicking when they wouldn't free but Mia was already on the move to get the next victim. _I have to get out of here,_ she thought frantically as she forced herself to slow down and stand in the hallway. _There has to be a way for me to get out of here in tact..._ Her thoughts drifted back to Heero and was hoping that his leg was being tended to. The bruises on her upper arm and wrist as well as the broken bones in her left hand had already purpled and swollen so that just moving her arm caused excruciating pain though she was unable to pause and take something for the pain, let alone get some ice to bring down the swelling. _Stupid Deikim and his stupid commands,_ she muttered quietly. Heero had followed his training true and had acted on instinct when he had swung at her, though it didn't make the pain any less, or the injuries disappear.

Quatre and Duo were playing chess in the kitchen as the Maguanacs were packing up the farm house to move further away from OZ and closer to Sally.

"Master Quatre," Rashid said quietly as he came over to the pair who was playing chess. "Abdul has informed us that the Gundams are currently being transported underground to the new base. We should all be ready to move in the next hour."

"That's great," Quatre said to Rashid as he stood to shake hands with his old friend. "I really appreciate your help, Rashid. We couldn't have gotten relocated without the help of the Maguanac Corps." He winced when his right shoulder moved slightly.

"Master Quatre, you should be resting," Rashid scolded him lightly as he moved about the kitchen to serve tea to Quatre and his friends. "We will handle the relocation so that you and the other pilots can relax."

"We're relaxing all right," Duo said sourly as he toyed with his king. "While Mia is beaten, ordered around and God knows what else. Sure, we'll just relax." He flicked his king and the piece toppled to the board. "I want to just bust in there and take her back by force."

"You know that's not practical," Quatre said quietly, his eyes showing concern for Mia as he sat back down at the table. "With two of the five of us out of commission and with OZ holding Mia hostage, we can't possibly take the base and free her."

"We can't just sit idly either," Duo said angrily, "She's being forced against her will, Quatre! She lost her identity!" He mashed his teeth together angrily, "It should be Shinigami who goes into that base and kills that moron Deikim Barton himself."

"I don't like it anymore than you do, Duo," Quatre said honestly, "But we don't have enough forces to successfully take the base. We'll all recover, restock our Gundams, and then we'll take the base by force and rescue Mia."

Duo seemed reluctant to accept this plan but didn't argue any further. "I just feel so useless," he muttered quietly, "With you and Heero out of action for a little while, I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place."

Quatre put a reassuring hand on Duo's shoulder. "Just believe in Mia," he said to Duo quietly, "I feel it in my heart that she'll be all right. She's being smart right now and she's not going to be stupid and pull some idiotic risk when she can keep herself under the radar. Just wait and see, Duo. In about a week, we'll attack the New Star base and take Mia back."

"I hope you're right," Duo said quietly. He rose and Quatre removed his hand from his shoulder.

~*~*~*~

Yay! Another chapter for you awesome readers!


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